A meeting once in three months, and a special sitting on the demand of a tenth: Kerala's Grama Sabha

Background

Road works proposed by panchayats, block panchayats and a district panchayat in rural Thiruvananthapuram have been held up because contractors are staying away until the Local Self Government Department revises its rates, with 42 works finding no takers after three rounds of tendering. Works like these are placed before the Grama Sabha, the body the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 builds at the base of rural local government. Under Section 3 of the Act, a constituency of a village panchayat may be specified to be a village for the purposes of clause (g) of Article 243 of the Constitution. Everyone whose name is on the electoral roll for that village is a member of its Grama Sabha. The Grama Sabha has to meet at least once in three months, at a place the village panchayat fixes. Its convenor is the panchayat member who represents that constituency, and the convenor must invite the Block Panchayat, District Panchayat and Assembly members for the area. On a written request by at least ten per cent of its members, a special meeting has to be convened within fifteen days, and only one such special meeting may be held between two general meetings.