3. Constitution of Village Authorities.—(1) For every village having twenty or more tax-paying houses
there shall be a village Authority consisting of—
(a) five members, where the number of tax-paying houses in the village is not less than twenty
but is not more than sixty;
(b) seven members, where the number of tax-paying houses in the village is more than sixty but is
not more than one hundred;
(c) ten members, where the number of tax-paying houses in the village is more than one hundred
but is not more than one hundred and fifty;
1. 18th April, 1957, vide notification No. S.R.O. 88, dated 7th January, 1957, see Gazette of India, Part II, sec. 3.
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(d) twelve members, where the number of tax-paying houses in the village is more than one
hundred and fifty.
(2) The Chief Commissioner may, having regard to the general interests of the people of any
village as also to the demand, if any, from the people of that village for an elected Village Authority,
declare, by notification in the Official Gazette, that the village shall have an elected Village Authority,
and thereupon the members of the Village Authority of that village shall be elected in accordance with the
provisions of this Act and the rules made thereunder.
(3) Where no declaration under sub-section (2) has been made in relation to any village the members
of the Village Authority of that village shall be nominated by the Chief Commissioner.
(4) Where there is a Chief Khulakpa in a village, he shall be the ex officio chairman of the
Village Authority of that village; and where there is no such Chief or Khulakpa in the village, the
chairman of the village Authority of that village shall be elected by the members of the Village Authority
from among themselves.
4. Qualifications for membership of Village Authorities.—A person shall not be qualified to be
chosen as a member of a Village Authority unless he—
(a) is a citizen of India;
(b) is not less than twenty-five years of age; and
(c) in the case of membership of an elected Village Authority, is registered in the electoral roll as
a voter for the election of a member of the Village Authority.
5. Disqualifications for membership of Village Authorities.—A person shall be disqualified for
being chosen as, and for being, a member of a Village Authority,—
(a) if he is a member of any other Village Authority;
(b) if he is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent authority.
6. Term of office of members of Village Authorities.—The term of office of members of a Village
Authority shall be three years from the date appointed for its first meeting.
7. Election of members of Village Authorities.—The election of members of the Village Authority
of a village shall be on the basis of adult suffrage, that is to say, every person who is a citizen of India and
who is ordinarily resident in the village and is not less than twenty-one years of age on such date as may
be fixed by rules made under this Act, shall be entitled to be registered as a voter at any such election.
Explanation.—A person shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident in a village if he ordinarily resides
in that village or owns, or is in possession of, a dwelling house therein.
8. Power to remove members of Village Authorities.—(1) The Deputy Commissioner may remove
any member of a Village Authority from his office—
(a) who is convicted of any non-bailable offence; or
(b) who refuses to act, or becomes incapable of acting, or is declared to be insolvent; or
(c) who has been declared by notification to be disqualified for employment in the public service;
or
(d) who, without an excuse sufficient in the opinion of the Deputy Commissioner, absents himself
from six consecutive meetings of the Village Authority; or
(e) who has been guilty of misconduct in the discharge of his duties, or of any disgraceful
conduct, if two-thirds of the total number of the members of the Village Authority at a meeting
recommend his removal.
(2) No person who has been removed from his office under clause (a) or clause (c) of sub-section (1)
shall be eligible for re-nomination or re-election except with the previous permission of the Chief
Commissioner obtained by such person in the prescribed manner.
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9. Resignation of members.—A member of a Village Authority may resign his office by writing
under his hand addressed to the chairman of the Authority but shall continue in office until his
resignation has been accepted in a meeting of the Authority.
10. Filling of causal vacancies.—When the office of a member of a Village Authority becomes
vacant by his removal, resignation or death, a new member shall be nominated or elected to fill the
vacancy and shall hold office so long as the member whose place he fills would have been entitled to
hold office if such vacancy had not occurred.
11. Bar to interference by courts in election matters.—No election of a member of a Village
Authority shall be called in question in any court, and no court shall grant an injunction,—
(a) to postpone the election of a member of a Village Authority; or
(b) to prohibit a person, declared to have been duly elected under this Act, from taking part in the
proceedings of a Village Authority of which he has been elected a member; of
(c) to prohibit members nominated or elected for a Village Authority from entering upon their
duties.
12. Election disputes.—(1) If a dispute arises as to the election of any member of a Village
Authority, the matter shall be referred to the Deputy Commissioner who shall decide the same after
giving notice to the parties concerned and after taking such evidence as may be produced.
(2) The order of the Deputy Commissioner may, within thirty days from the date thereof, be revised
by the Chief Commissioner whose decision shall be final and shall not be questioned in any court.
13. Validation of acts and proceedings.—No Act done or proceedings taken by a Village
Authority under this Act shall be questioned on the ground merely of—
(a) the existence of any vacancy in, or any defect in the constitution of, the Village Authority;
(b) any defect or irregularity not affecting the merits of the case.
14. Incorporation of Village Authorities.—Every Village Authority shall be a body corporate by the
name of the village for which it is constituted and shall have perpetual succession and a common seal, and
shall by the said name sue and be sued, with power to acquire, hold and dispose of property, both
movable and immovable, and to contract and do all other things necessary for the purposes of this Act.
15. Control of Village Authorities by sub-divisional magistrate.—Subject to the general
superintendence and control of the Deputy commissioner, the sub-divisional magistrate shall have control
over all the Village Authorities within the local limits of his jurisdiction.
16. Functions of Village Authorities.—(1) Every Village Authority constituted under this Act shall,
within the local limits of its jurisdiction, perform the following functions, namely:—
(a) it shall, to the best of its ability maintain law and order and for there purpose exercise and
perform the powers and duties generally conferred and imposed on the police by or under the Police
Act, 1861 (5 of 1861):
Provided that a Village Authority shall not be deemed to be a police officer within the meaning of
sections 25 and 16 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872), or section 162 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898);
(b) it shall cause to be arrested without any order from a magistrate and without a warrant—
(i) any person who is a vagrant or commits a heinous offence or who has been concerned in
any such offence or against whom a reasonable complaint has been made or credible information
has been received or a reasonable suspicion exists of his having been so concerned,
(ii) any person against whom a hue and cry has been raised on the ground of his having been
concerned in any heinous offence, whether such offence has been or is being committed within its
jurisdiction or outside it,
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(iii) any person for whose arrest a requisition has been received from a police officer;
provided that the requisition specifies the person to be arrested and the offence or other cause for
which the arrest is to be made or it appears therefrom that the person might lawfully be arrested
without a warrant by the officer who issued the requisition,
(iv) any person designing to commit any heinous offence of which the Village Authority has
knowledge, if the commission of offence cannot otherwise be prevented,
(v) any person who obstructs the Village Authority in the performance of its functions under
this Act or rules made thereunder or a police officer while in the execution of his duty, and
(vi) any person who has escaped, or attempts to escape, from lawful custody:
Provided that where a Village Authority is unable to arrest an offender it shall forthwith
report the matter to the sub-divisional magistrate who shall provide the Village Authority with
such assistance as it requires:
Provided further that the Village Authority may pursue beyond the local limits of its
jurisdiction any person who has committed a heinous offence or is a vagrant or of bad or
suspicious character, and arrest such person outside the local limits of its jurisdiction with the
consent of the Village Authority within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the person pursued
is found;
(c) it shall give immediate information to the sub-divisional magistrate of every unnatural,
suspicious or sudden death which may occur, and of any heinous offence which may be committed,
within the local limits of its jurisdiction and shall keep the sub-divisional magistrate informed of all
disputes which are likely to lead to a riot or serious affray; and
(d) it shall supply any information which any police officer or the sub-divisional magistrate or
the Deputy commissioner may require from it.
(2) No person who is arrested under this section shall be detained in custody without being informed,
as soon as may be, of the grounds of such arrest.
(3) Every person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before the nearest
magistrate within a period of twenty four hours of such arrest excluding the time necessary for the
journey from the place of arrest to the court of the magistrate and no such person shall be detained in
custody beyond the said period without the authority of a magistrate.
17. Obligation to assist Village Authorities.—(1) Every person shall be bound to render, to a
Village Authority performing the functions under this Act, all the assistance which he is bound to render
to a police officer under section 42 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898), and every
person who refuses or neglects to comply with any requisition for such assistance shall be punishable
with fine may extend to—
(a) two hundred rupees, where the sentence passed by a Village court; or
(b) five hundred rupees, where the sentence is passed by the court of a sub-divisional magistrate.
(2) Against an order passed under sub-section (1) an appeal shall lie—
(a) to the court of sub-divisional magistrate, where the order is passed by a village court;
(b) to the court of session, where the order is passed by the court of the
sub-divisional magistrate,
within period of thirty days from the date of such order or within such longer period as the appellate court
may allow:
Provided that no appeal shall lie in any case in which a village court passes a sentence of fine not
exceeding twenty rupees or in any case in which the court of a sub-divisional magistrate passes a sentence
of fine not exceeding one hundred rupees.
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18. Power of chief Commissioner to call for records of Village Authorities, sub-divisional
magistrate or Deputy Commissioner.—The Chief Commissioner may at any time call for and examine
the record of any proceeding before a Village Authority, village court, sub-divisional magistrate or
Deputy Commissioner under section 17 for the purpose of satisfying himself as to the correctness, legality
or propriety of any finding, sentence or order recorded or passed and after perusing the record set aside,
modify or confirm such finding, sentence or order:
Provided that where an order has been made by the court of session in an appeal preferred under
sub-section (2) of section 17, the Chief Commissioner shall not interfere with such appellate order.