Madhya Pradesh becomes the 8th state to notify PESA Rules in scheduled areas of the state

Tags: State News

 Madhya Pradesh has become the8th state in India to notify its Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) PESA Rules on the occasion of Janjatiya Gaurav Divas on 15th November, 2022.   At the State Level Janjatiya Gaurav Divas Sammelan at Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh, Governor of Madhya Pradesh Mangubhai Patel handed over the first copy of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA Act) Manual to the President of India Smt. Droupadi Murmu.

It will empower the Gram Sabhas to take decisions on the rules and regulations with regard to all natural resources in the forest areas. The PESA Act will give more constitutional rights to the tribal people to reap the benefits of natural resources from the forest areas where they live.

In India Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana have notified their State PESA Rules under their respective State Panchayati Raj Acts.  Chhattisgarh had notified their PESA Rules on 8th August, 2022.

Scheduled Areas in India

The constitution has made special provision for the administration of areas which are mainly populated by the Scheduled Tribes. 

The constitution under article 244(1) makes special provision for the administration of certain areas called Scheduled Areas in states other than Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura. These Scheduled areas are mentioned in Schedule 5 of the constitutions.

The Tribal areas under the state of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Meghalaya and provisions regarding administration are mentioned in Schedule 6 of the constitution.

Presently, 10 states Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana, have Fifth Schedule Areas in their respective States.

Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996” (PESA)

To bring the people residing in Fifth Schedule Areas in the mainstream, the Parliament, in terms of Article 243M(4)(b) of the Constitution, has enacted “the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996” (PESA) to extend Part IX of the Constitution, relating to Panchayats, to the Fifth Schedule areas, with certain modifications and exceptions. States, having Fifth Schedule Areas, have been empowered to frame Panchayat laws and rules for these areas.

All the states in the 5th Schedule have framed their state PESA rules under their respective State Panchayati Raj Acts, except Jharkhand and Odisha.

Panchayats are mentioned in the State list of the seventh schedule and the state government has the power to make rules law on it.

However, to bring uniformity in the Panchayats across the country and provide a framework, the Parliament passed the 73rdConstitutional amendment act 1992 which gave a constitutional status to the Panchayati raj institutions in India. However the power to frame the rules for their panchayat system is with the state government.