The West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Saturday (July 26, 2026) passed the West Bengal Panchayat ( Second Amendment), 2026 Bill depriving elected representatives of panchayats of financial powers.
The bill was passed with 169 votes polled in favour of the bill, while 13 MLAs voted against it. 32 MLAs did not participate in the voting process.
The proposed legislation seeks to amend several provisions of the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973, with the stated objective of ensuring administrative stability, uninterrupted public service delivery and smoother functioning of rural local bodies.
The statement of objects and reasons of the legislation says that the bill was brought to ensure the stability of panchayat bodies for the time bound delivery of services to the public at large.
The bill provides for the prescribed authority to appoint an extension officer, or an officer of a higher rank, as Administrator for a maximum period of 30 days if both the pradhan and the deputy pradhan remain absent for more than 15 days and no elected member is willing to discharge the responsibilities.
The bill also addresses situations where no gram panchayat meeting is held for two consecutive months due to the absence of the pradhan and deputy pradhan. In such cases, the panchayat secretary, with the approval of the Block Development Officer (BDO), will be authorised to convene the meeting.
Participating in the discussion, Panchayat Affairs and Rural Development Minister Dilip Ghosh said the Bill does not intend to curtail the constitutional powers of elected panchayat heads.
“Rather, it is aiming at curtailing the authority for corruption and commission against rural civic services. Henceforth, the elected panchayat heads will only approve any proposal. But the Bill will be cleared and sanctioned by the bureaucrats,” he said.
The State Panchayat Minister alleged that in many instances where pradhans have refused to sign work-related documents due to issues regarding alleged ‘cut-money’ (kickbacks). He stated that the objective of the amendment is to curb such irregularities. Mr. Ghosh claimed that among all States in the country, it is only in West Bengal that panchayat pradhans possess such financial powers, and that economic interests have been a major factor behind the violence witnessed during panchayat elections.
A few days ago, the State government issued a notification depriving panchayat pradhans and elected representatives of powers to issue birth and death certificates.
Despite the change in the regime in West Bengal, most of the panchayats and local bodies are administered by the Trinamool Congress. The Bharatiya Janata Party government in West Bengal argues that most of the panchayat pradhans have stopped performing their duties and thus such legislative changes were necessary.
Published – July 26, 2026 02:00 am IST
