Which committee recommended Constitutional recognition for the local government bodies in 1989?

Correct — A. The P. K. Thungon Committee is the body credited with recommending that panchayati raj institutions be given constitutional recognition.

It was a sub-committee of a Consultative Committee of Parliament, asked to examine the political and administrative structure of the district for district planning.

Alongside a three-tier structure built around the zila parishad, it argued that local bodies belonged in the Constitution rather than in state law alone. Option (a) is that committee.

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Verma Committee — No Verma committee stands in the panchayati raj sequence — Balwant Rai Mehta, Ashok Mehta, L. M. Singhvi, Thungon. The best-known Justice J. S. Verma Committee reported on criminal law reform, a different subject entirely.
• (c)
  Balwant Rai Committee — The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee (1957) designed panchayati raj itself, recommending democratic decentralisation through a three-tier structure. It built the system rather than asking for it to be written into the Constitution.
• (d)
  Ashok Mehta Committee — The Ashok Mehta Committee (1977) is remembered for proposing a two-tier structure — zila parishad and mandal panchayat — in place of the earlier three tiers. The recommendation the stem describes is credited to Thungon.

Constitutional status for panchayats arrived in stages, and each stage carries a committee name.

Balwant Rai Mehta (1957) created the three-tier design. Ashok Mehta (1977) proposed a two-tier alternative. L. M. Singhvi (1986) and P. K. Thungon argued that local bodies should be written into the Constitution instead of surviving at the pleasure of state governments.

That argument became the 73rd Constitutional Amendment, passed in 1992 and in force from 24 April 1993, which added Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule.

Key facts

• The P. K. Thungon Committee recommended constitutional recognition for panchayati raj bodies.
• The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee of 1957 recommended the three-tier panchayati raj structure.
• The Ashok Mehta Committee of 1977 recommended a two-tier structure resting on the zila parishad.
• The 73rd Amendment added Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule to the Constitution.

Common traps

• Picking Balwant Rai Mehta because it is the panchayati raj committee everyone remembers.
• Assuming the committee that designed panchayats is the one that demanded constitutional status.
• Reading the stem's 1989 as the committee's own year rather than the year of the amendment bill.

No directly related past PYQ was found.