CHENNAI: Section 205 of Tamil Nadu Panchayat Act, 1994 muzzles grassroots democracy, and panchayats could function effectively only if it is repealed, according to civil society activists, panchayat presidents and former bureaucrats.Hitting out at the draconian section of the Act, which provides vast powers to District Collectors to remove an elected representative of panchayats, the activists during a ‘Consultation on Excessive Powers vested with District Collectors as Inspector of Panchayats’ on Wednesday urged the government to immediately repeal the Act so that the panchayats can function effectively.Highlighting the misuse of the Act, coordinator of Human Rights Advocacy and Research Foundation K Krishnaveni said that in the last five years 98 panchayat presidents were dismissed from 21 districts.According to data available through Right to Information Act from 29 districts, of the 98 panchayat presidents dismissed by Collectors, 40 were women and 27 were members of Scheduled Caste communities.Only 21 panchayat presidents were reinstated through court direction and appeal to the secretary, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.Interestingly, some of the instances where the panchayat presidents are removed are trivial. Veerasamy, an SC panchayat president of a village in Kanchipuram, was removed for not convening a gram sabha. “I protested as the district administration turned a blind eye to the resolution against shrimp farms at the village by not conveining a gram sabha. The result, I was dismissed,” he said, stating how the law is being misused.
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