The Telangana government on Thursday indefinitely postponed the elections to 12,777 gram panchayats in the state and placed their administration in the hands of special officers with immediate effect until further orders.
The tenure of sarpanches and members of the gram panchayats came to an end on Thursday and they have been requesting the state government to extend their term by another six months on the ground that they were not able to do anything for nearly two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022.
In a government order (GO No. 5), which was seen by HT, principal secretary (panchayat raj) Sandeep Kumar Sultania directed district collectors to appoint special officers or persons-in-charge or a committee of persons-in-charge from Friday to perform the functions of the gram panchayat.
According to the order, the special officers or persons-in-charge could be of the rank of a tehsildar, mandal parishad development officer, agriculture officer, mandal educational officer, mandal panchayat officer or similar rank officers.
These officers or committees will perform the functions of the gram panchayat till the assumption of new members and sarpanches, who are elected by the people. The special officers have also been directed to take charge immediately.
{{/usCountry}}These officers or committees will perform the functions of the gram panchayat till the assumption of new members and sarpanches, who are elected by the people. The special officers have also been directed to take charge immediately.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, some of the sarpanches also moved the Telangana high court on Wednesday, seeking to stop appointment of special officers to administer gram panchayats, but did not get any relief, people familiar with the matter said. Justice Kaja Sarath refused to extend their term till the elections were conducted to the gram panchayats.
The sarpanches also contended that they had spent their personal money running into lakhs to take up developmental works in their gram panchayats, but the state had not reimbursed them.
The judge, however, issued notices to the state government and the State Election Commission, asking them to submit their views on conducting elections to gram panchayats and appointing special officers, said sources.
The president of Telangana’s ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi, K T Rama Rao, said sarpanches were retiring from the post and not from public service.
He took to X (formerly Twitter) to express gratitude to the sarpanches, who served the people for five years, established nurseries, Palle Prakruthi Vanams (nature parks), Vaikuntha Dhamams (crematoriums) and set a benchmark for the nation.