Bengal govt to appoint administrators in Panchayats

The West Bengal government is set to appoint administrators to run the state's three-tier Panchayat system as rural polls are unlikely before the existing Panchayat bodies' term ends in June. The government has also said it will appeal against a high court order that directed the state poll panel to hold three-phase Panchayat elections in the state.

“There will be no problem if there is no election in June. We are taking alternative measure as per law. Development works at Panchayats will not get affected,” state Panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee said. Current Panchayat bodies in the state will be dissolved by June 10 with completion of their terms.

The alternative measure, according to government officials, is appointment of administrators. “There is already instances of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, where Panchayats were run by administrators and we can follow it,” Mukherjee said.

Meanwhile, the government today made it clear it was not sending the list of election observers and details about security arrangement as per the Calcutta High Court's direction. “It’s not practically possible to do all these within a day,” the minister added.

Justice Biswanath Samaddar of the high court, in his order yesterday, had directed the state to hand over the list of 400 election observers and details of security arrangement in 24 hours. The court also validated all of the State Election Commission's demands and authorised the poll panel to decide the schedule of a three-phased Panchayat poll in the state with deployment of central forces, which was opposed by the Mamata Banerjee government.

The state government will challenge the order in a divison bench of the high court on Monday.

The government has indicated it would even move the Supreme Court if it does not get a favorable order from the divison bench. “We will exploit all legal option unless we get an order, where the government will be in position to carry on the election process,” Mukherjee said.

Both Left parties and the Congress continued their attack on the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government for delaying the election process. The opposition lodged a counter campaign against TMC, saying the ruling party was not in favour of Panchayat election now as the Saradha scam has put the party in a backfoot.