1999 年 1999 巻 51 号 p. 242-247,280
The 73rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution enacted in 1993 guaranteed village panchayats as a local self-government. Some of the auhtorities in this field took this as a revival of traditional village self-government. By examining the legal aspects of present village panchayats and of their functions, the author of this article tries to make clear the difference that lies between the current village panchayats after the Amendment and the traditional ones.
For instance, Judicial power, that was one of the most important functions of traditional village panchayats, was separated from modern village panchayats. On the contrary, development works are the ones that were strengthened as their functions. Further more the territorial determination of current panchayats show one of their noticeable characteristics as an administrative institution. We can hardly see, through the examination of their territorial constitutions, that present village panchayat as self-governmental organization based on community that was binded to community land. This makes particulary difficult for the villagers to hold village meetings in traditional sense of the term.
The author this time set the location of the survey in a part of Andhra Pradesh where village panchayats play a significant role in village administration.
The difference that lies between the legal status and real situation of present village panchayats studied, the conclusion is that modern village panchayats and traditional ones are entirely different bodies. To make current village panchayats more substantial for the good of the villagers, improvements like strenghening of residents meeting should be brought.