Assam: Dispur notifies amended financial rules for panchayat bodies

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The state government has notified the amended Assam Panchayat (Financial) Rules, 2002, renaming it as Assam Panchayat (Financial) (Amendment) Rules, 2025. The amended Rules specify the new rules for different works by Panchayat bodies according to their estimated cost. The Rules also focus on revenue generation in order to make the bodies self-reliant.

Rule 36 has been amended to state that the Zilla Parishad (ZP) or the Anchalik Panchayat (AP) or the Gaon Panchayat (GP), as the case may be, can itself accord the approval to carry out any work, the estimated cost of which is below Rs.5 lakh out of its own fund in respect of ZP and Rs.2 lakh in respect of AP and Rs.1 lakh in respect of GP. The ZP, AP or GP are required to obtain technical approval for construction works from the technical wing of the respective ZP. But all the Panchayat bodies have to prepare a detailed plan and estimate, including a site plan, in the form used by the state Public Works Department (PWD).

In case the estimated cost is above Rs 5 lakh for ZP, Rs 2 lakh for AP and Rs 1 lakh for GP, the technical approval for the plan and estimate as prepared in respect of every work shall be obtained from the department concerned by the Chief Executive Officer in respect of ZP, the Executive Officer in respect of AP and the Secretary in respect of GP. In the event of the estimated cost being less than Rs 1 lakh, no technical approval is required, provided the estimate is prepared by a technical person.

In the amendment of Rule 41 it is stated that Tax on Trades like foreign liquor and country liquor shops, educational institutions, health establishments, brick kilns, mobile towers, petrol pumps, timber sawmills, godowns and other pollutant industries and any other levied under any provision of this Act or under any enactment in force shall be included in the bye-laws prepared by the GPs.

As for the Amendment of Rule 47, it now says, "Such hats or ferries or fisheries or pounds as are vested in or placed under the control and administration of the Panchayat Act shall be settled by inviting sealed tenders for the respective hats, ferries, fisheries, pounds, etc., and the earnest money shall not be below two per cent of the minimum bid value for sale and settlement of the right to collect the authorized fees for a period coinciding with one Panchayat Financial Year. It is also provided that Tax shall be levied annually or biannually from regular vendors, traders, and hawkers only. No tax shall be collected from the villagers who come to sell the petty household products like dairy products, vegetables, and agricultural products like betel nuts and betel vines (tamolpaan). The GP, AP or ZP shall settle the hat where the amenities, such as toilets, drinking water, and market sheds, are created by these institutions. The markets which are running in the open field or roadside where there are no facilities provided by the Panchayat bodies shall not be settled, but big markets such as cattle markets, furniture markets and similar such markets of a value more than Rs.10 Lakh shall not fall under this condition. The GP, AP or ZP concerned shall provide amenities like toilets, drinking water, etc. for the markets settled by them, and the lessee shall be responsible for cleanliness as well as solid waste management of the markets. For the assets settled at GPs, the lessee shall be from the GP localities concerned.

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