Panchayat prez to review officials' job

The government has devolved to panchayat presidents the power to review performance reports of officials, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H K Patil has said. A Government Order to this affect was issued on Monday.

“The devolution is aimed at empowering elected representatives in the conduct of administration. Earlier, officials were never accountable to public representatives at the panchayat level. Now, by reviewing the performance report (also called CR report) every year, panchayat members will be able to exercise some control over them,” the minister told reporters here.

Accordingly, the CR reports of almost all officials, which were previously submitted to their immediate superiors, will be reviewed by the panchayat presidents. Once officials submit a report to their immediate superior, it will be placed before the panchayat president for his comments. “This report, adverse or not, will then be sent to the approving authority. The authority could be the CEO. While the CEO or the relevant authority can agree with the comments of the panchayat president or modify them, the latter’s recommendation will always reflect on the record of the officials,” he explained.

The RDPR department disbursed a total of Rs 2,489 crore through the Gandhi Sakshi Kayaka software which aims to bring transparency in projects and avoid duplicate works. Bellary and Bidar have topped the State in implementation of the software for their rural projects while Tumkur was the laggard.