In the Principal Act, in section 127:- — THE SIKKIM PANCHAYAT ACT, 1993

28 . In the Principal Act, in section 127:- (i) in the marginal heading the word after " Constitution" and before the word " of ' the words "Function" shall be inserted . (ii) for section 127 and the entries relating thereto, the following shall be substituted, namely:- " 127. (1)The State Government shall constitute District Planning Committees (District Planning Committees) in every District within three months of completion of elections to Panchayats . The District Planning Committee shall have a planning office with a full time District Planning Officer . The District Planning Committees shall be constituted to consolidate the plans prepared by the Panchayats and the Municipalities in the District and to prepare a draft development plan for the District as a whole. EXPLANA TlON -DPO means any substantive officer appointed by the State Government trained and monitored by the DPER & NECA Department . The District Planning Committee shall consist of such number of members as may be specified by the State Government from time to time by Notification in the Official Gazette and in so fixing the total number of members of the District Planning Committee , the State Government shall specify the number respectively of the nominated members and elected members: Provided that not less than four-fifth of the total number of members of the District Planning Committee shall be elected by and from amongst , the elected members of the District Panchayat and the Municipalities in the District in proportion to the ratio between the population of the rural and urban area in the District . the nominated members may consist of :- (a) persons representing the State Government; (b) members of the Legislative Assembly who represent a constituency comprising the whole or part of the District . (c) members representing such organizations and institutions as may be deemed necessary by the State Government . The District Planning Committee shall have- such functions relating to District planning as may be assigned to it by the State Government; (b) such powers as may be conferred on it by the State Government . The Chairperson of the District Planning Committee shall be the Chairperson of the District Panchayat concerned. Every District Planning Committee shall, in preparing the draft development plan , have regard to- (i) Matters of common interest between the Panchayat and the Municipalities including spatial planning , sharing of water Insertion of new section 133 Insertion of new Chapter XIII -Standing Committees and Insertion of new sections . and other physical and natural resources , the integrated development of the infrastructure and environmental conservation; (ii) The extent and type of available resources whether financial or otherwise . and (iii) Consult such institutions and organizations as the State Government may by order, specify . The Chairperson of every District Planning Committee shall forward the development plan, as recommended by the District Planning Committee , to the State Government . There shall be a planning office headed by the District Planning Officer to assist the District Planning Committee. The appointment of the staff and officers of the planning office shall be made according to the rules made by the State Government'. In the Principal Act, after section 132, the following section shall be inserted. namely:- " 133 -Powers and responsibilities of police in respect of offences and assistance to the Panchayats.- Every police officer posted within the territorial limit of the Panchayat shall give immediate information to the Panchayat of an offence coming to his knowledge which has been committed under this Act or any rule or by-law made thereunder and shall assist all the members, officers and servants of the Panchayat in the exercise of their lawful authority". CHAPTER XIII In the Principal Act , after section 133, the following new sections shall be inserted, namely:- 1. "134. Standing Committees of Panchayats.- In every Panchayat at all levels Sectoral Standing Committees as stated below shall be constituted: (a) Standing Committee for Finance. (b) Standing Committee for Economic Development and Planning. (c) Standing Committee for Welfare and Social Justice. :> (d) Standing Committee for Health, Nutrition , Sanitation and Drinking water. (e) Standing Committee for Education and Skill Development . (f) Standing Committee for Agriculture, Forestry, Watersh ed and Allied Activities . In the District Panchayat a Standing Committee for Public Works shall also be constituted . Every Standing Committee shall consist of such number of members, including its Adhakshya or Sabhapati, as decided by the Panchayat, so that all elected members except the Adhakshya and Up-Adhakshya or Sabhapati and Up-Sabhapati shall be members in one of the Standing Committees and the number of members to each Standing Committee shall, as far as possible, be equal. The number of members of each Standing Committee as decided by the Panchayat under sub-section (2) shall not be changed within the term of that Panchayat . In every Standing Committee there shall be members appointed in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the Panchayat itself . No Panchayat representative shall be a member of more than one Standing Committee at a time. The Chairperson of every Standing Committee, except the Standing Committee for Finance, shall be elected by the members of the respective Standing Committee from among themselves. TheUp-Adhakshya or Up-Sabhapati of Panchayat shall be an ex-officio member and Chairperson of the Standing Committee for Finance and the Sabhapati of Panchayat shall be an exofficio member of all Standing Committees without the right to vote. A member other than an ex-officio member of a Standing Committee and the Chairperson of a Standing Committee other than the Standing Committee for Finance may resign the membership or Chairmanship of a Standing Committee, as the case may be by tendering resignation to the Sachiva of the Panchayat in the prescribed form and the resignation shall take effect from the date on which it was received by the Sachiva and the Sachiva shall inform the Chairperson and the Panchayat immediately of the fact . The person who intends to resign from the membership or Chairmanship of the Standing Committee shall personally present such resignation letter to the Secretary who shall acknowledge the receipt of the same . Except as otherwise provicfed in this Act, the term of the Chairperson of a Standing Committee or its members shall coexists with the term of that Panchayat . An election to fill up a casual vacancy of a member of a Standing Committee shall be conducted within thirty days of the occurrence of that vacancy: Provided that where the vacancy in a 3~:: . :nding Committee could not be filled due to the vacancy of a member of Panchayat, the vacancy of Standing Committee shall be filled up within thirty days from the date of filling up of the vacancy of the member of Panchayat . If a casual vacancy of the Chairperson of a Standing Committee other than the Standing Committee for Finance arises, one of its members shall be elected as its Chairperson in the next meeting of the Standing Committee . A motion of no-confidence against the Chairperson of the Standing Committee other than the Standing Committee for Finance may be moved subject to the prescribed provisions and procedures and if such a motion is passed with the support of not less than the majority of the members of the Standing Committee , the Chairperson of that Standing Committee ' shall cease to hold office and shall be deemed to have vacated the office of the Chairperson of the Standing Committee immediately" . "135 . Meetings of Standing Committees.- In regard to conduct of business at its meetings , a Standing Committee will follow such procedure as may be prescribed". " 136 . Subject to be dealt with by the Standing Committees.- The following subjects shall be dealt with by the Standing Committees of the Panchayat: (a) In a Gram Panchayat , - (i) The Standing Committee for Finance shall deal with the subjects of finance , tax , accounts , audit, budget, generaL administration , appeals relating to tax and subjects not allotted to other Standing Committees; (ii) The Standing Committee for Economic Development shall deal with the subjects of development planning, socio-economic planning , spatial planning , small -scale industry , housing, regulation of building construction, electricity , poverty alleviation programmes, slum improvement , food security including the public distribution system , markets etc; (iii) The Standing Committee for Welfare and Social Justice shall deal with the subjects of economic, social , educational , cultural and other interests of Scheduled Caste-Scheduled Tribe , protection of such castes and classes from social injustice and any form of exploitation , development of women and children, social welfare, social security etc. (iv) The Standing Committee for Health , Nutrition, Sanitation and Drinking Water shall deal with the subjects of public health, social hygiene, public works, sanitation, water supply , sewerage, environment etc; (v) The Standing Committee for Education and Skill Development shall deal with the subjects of education, art & culture and entertainment; , (vi) The Standing Committee for Agriculture, Forestry , Watershed and Allied Activities shall deal with the subjects of agriculture, soil' conservation. social forestry. animal husbandry. diary development, minor irrigation, fisheries, and other matters connected with development of agriculture and live-stock. (b) In the District Panchayat, - (i) The Standing Committee for Finance shall deal with the subjects like finance . accounts. audit. budget. gener21 administration and subjects not allotted to other standing committee; (ii) The Standing Committee . for Economic Development and Planning shall deal with the subjects like development planning. socio-economic planning, small scale industry, etc. (iii) The Standing Committee for Public Works shall deal with the subjects like public works . housing. spatial planning and environment; (iv) The Standing Committee for Health, Nutrition. Sanitation and Drinking Water shall deal with subjects like public health, rural water supply, sanitation and allied subjects. (v) The Standing Committee for Education and Skill Development shall deal with subjects like education; (vi) The Standing Committee for Welfare shall deal with subjects like social welfare, development of women and children and development of scheduled caste-scheduled tribe; (vii) The Standing Committee for Agriculture, Forestry, Watershed and Allied Activities shall deal with the subjects like agriculture , soil conservation, animal husbandry, mine: irrigation , fisheries and allied subjects. The Standing Committees of the Panchayat may perform such other functions as may be entrusted to them by the Panchayat in addition to the powers and duties conferred on them by rules made in this behalf . Every resolution passed by the Standing Committee shall be placed before the Panchayat in its next meeting and the Panchayat shall have power to modify such resolutions if considered necessary. Experts in relevant subject matter shall be invited to attend the meetings of the respectlveBtandinp Committee and render necessary assistance to the committee in the discharge of its functions" , "'37. Power to call for records from standing Committees.- A Panchayat may at any time call for any document including extracts from the proceedings of the meetings of any Standing Committee any return, account statement or report concerning or connected with any matter with which such Star,~ing Committee has been authorized or directed to deal . and every such requisition shall be complied with by the Standing Committee" . "138 . Power to revise decisions of Standing Committees . - A Panchayat may , on application made to it or otherwise, examine the record of any decision of any of its Standing Committees and may confirm, reverse or modify such decision: Provided that no action under this sub-section shall be initiated after the expiry of three months from the date of the decision sought to be revised . The order of the Panchayat under sub-section (1) reversing or modifying a decision of its Standing Committee must be supported by a majority of the total number of its members, failing which the decision of the Standing Committee shall stand" . Jagat B . Rai (SSJS) L . R -cum-Secretary, Law Department . GOVERNMENT NO.11/LD/18 SIKKIM EXTRAORDINARY PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY Gangtok Thursday 14th June , 2018 No. 321 GOVERNMENT OF SIKKIM LAW DEPARTMENT GANGTOK NOTIFICATION The following Act passed by the Sikkim Legislative Assembly and having received assent of the Governor on 11 th day of June, 2018 is hereby published for general information:- THE SIKKIM PANCHAYAT (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2018 (ACT NO. 11 OF 2018) AN ACT to amend the Sikkim Panchayat, Act 1993 Be it enacted by the Legislature of Sikkim in the Sixty-ninth Year of the Republic of India , as follows:- Short title , extent and commencement Amendment of Section 13 This Act may be called the Sikkim Panchayat (Amendment) Act , 2018. It shall extend to the whole of Sikkim . It shall come into force at once .

Section 28