Which of the following is not an essential function of Gram Panchayat in Madhya Pradesh?
- (a)To protect the assets of Gram Panchayat
- (b)To promote cooperatives
- (c)To catch unowned animals and mad dogs
- (d)To operate police stations
Correct — D is the odd one out: running police stations is not a Gram Panchayat function at all. 'Public order' and 'Police' are State List subjects (Entries 1 and 2), and in Madhya Pradesh thanas are established and run by the State's police administration, not by any panchayat. Policing appears nowhere among the 29 subjects of the Eleventh Schedule, which is the list of matters a State may devolve to panchayats under Article 243G, and the functions enumerated for a Gram Panchayat in Section 49 of the Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj Avam Gram Swaraj Adhiniyam, 1993 are civic and developmental — sanitation, water, roads and lighting, markets and melas, care of community assets — not law enforcement.
- (a)To protect the assets of Gram Panchayat — Looking after the property and community assets it owns is a basic duty of the panchayat itself — 'maintenance of community assets' is item 29 of the Eleventh Schedule. A genuine function, so not the exception being asked for.
- (b)To promote cooperatives — Encouraging co-operative societies and similar collective village institutions falls within the developmental duties the Madhya Pradesh Act places on the Gram Panchayat, so it is one of its listed functions rather than the exception.
- (c)To catch unowned animals and mad dogs — It sounds too odd to be statutory, but it is: impounding stray or unowned cattle and dealing with rabid dogs is standard panchayat sanitation-and-nuisance work. The M.P. Gram Panchayat (Sanitation, Conservancy and Prevention and Abatement of Nuisance) Rules, 1999 — framed under this very Act — expressly allow a dog found to be rabid to be destroyed.
Article 243G lets a State legislature endow panchayats with such powers and authority as are necessary for them to function as institutions of self-government, and the Eleventh Schedule lists the 29 subjects that may be devolved. Madhya Pradesh gives effect to this through the Madhya Pradesh Panchayat Raj Avam Gram Swaraj Adhiniyam, 1993 (M.P. Act No. 1 of 1994), whose Section 49 enumerates the Gram Panchayat's functions. Every item on that list is civic, regulatory-of-nuisance or developmental in character; none confers coercive police power.
In a 'which is NOT a function' question, look for the option that belongs to a different level of government rather than the option that sounds strangest. Panchayats are institutions of local self-government; police, criminal justice, jails and land revenue collection sit with the state administration. Any option involving the coercive apparatus of the state — running a thana, arresting, prosecuting — is almost always the exception, however unglamorous the genuine functions (stray cattle, mad dogs, village drains) may sound.
- Article 243G with the Eleventh Schedule: 29 subjects may be devolved to panchayats — policing is not among them.
- In Madhya Pradesh, the Gram Panchayat's functions are set out in Section 49 of the MP Panchayat Raj Avam Gram Swaraj Adhiniyam, 1993 (M.P. Act No. 1 of 1994).
- Rules under that Act — such as the M.P. Gram Panchayat (Sanitation, Conservancy and Prevention and Abatement of Nuisance) Rules, 1999 — cover village nuisances including rabid dogs.
- 'Public order' and 'Police' are Entries 1 and 2 of the State List; law and order in villages is administered by the State, not the panchayat.
- Item 29 of the Eleventh Schedule is 'maintenance of community assets'.
- Rejecting the odd-sounding options (stray cattle, mad dogs) as jokes — they are genuine statutory nuisance functions.
- Confusing the Eleventh Schedule (panchayats, 29 subjects) with the Twelfth Schedule (municipalities, 18 subjects).
- Treating the panchayat as a lower rung of the police or revenue administration instead of an institution of self-government.
MPPSC favours the 'which is NOT a function / essential function' format on the MP Panchayat Raj Act, while UPSC asks the same idea through Article 243G and the Eleventh Schedule. Learn the categories of panchayat work rather than trying to memorise the whole statutory list.
The list of powers, authority and responsibilities which may be entrusted to the Panchayats is given in the:
- (a) Eleventh Schedule
- (b) Twelfth Schedule
- (c) Seventh Schedule
- (d) State list
Answer(a) Eleventh Schedule
Same idea, asked constitutionally instead of statutorily — the Eleventh Schedule defines the universe of subjects a panchayat may be given, which is exactly why running a police station falls outside a Gram Panchayat's functions.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The subjects that may be entrusted to Panchayats are enumerated in which Schedule of the Constitution?
- (a)Tenth Schedule
- (b)Eleventh Schedule
- (c)Twelfth Schedule
- (d)Seventh Schedule
Answer(b) The Eleventh Schedule — 29 subjects, added by the 73rd Amendment and linked to Article 243G.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following is a State subject and therefore outside the functions of a Gram Panchayat?
- (a)Village sanitation
- (b)Drinking water supply
- (c)Police and public order
- (d)Maintenance of community assets
Answer(c) Police and public order — Entries 1 and 2 of the State List, administered by the State government.