UPPSC 2024 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 129 of 150

Correct — D, Nyaya Panchayat. The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee was appointed by the Government of India in January 1957, under the Committee on Plan Projects, to examine why the Community Development Programme of 1952 and the National Extension Service of 1953 had failed to draw villagers in. Reporting in November 1957, it concluded that the programmes had no roots because there was no elected local institution to own them, and it recommended what it called 'democratic decentralisation' — the scheme that came to be known as Panchayati Raj. Its structure had exactly three rungs, and all three are administrative and developmental: the Gram Panchayat at the village, made up of directly elected representatives; the Panchayat Samiti at the block, constituted indirectly and meant to be the executive body that actually ran development work; and the Zila Parishad at the district, also indirect, with the District Collector as chairman, meant to advise, coordinate and supervise the Panchayat Samitis under it. A Nyaya Panchayat is something else entirely — a village-level judicial body for petty civil and criminal disputes, created by ordinary State legislation rather than by the Balwant Rai Mehta design. Uttar Pradesh, for instance, has provided for Nyaya Panchayats since the U.P. Panchayat Raj Act, 1947, a decade before the committee sat. Because it belongs to the judicial side rather than the developmental hierarchy, it is not a level in the three-tier structure, and (d) is the answer. Note also that the committee deliberately separated the two functions: it wanted the elected development bodies kept free of adjudicatory work, so the omission of any judicial rung was a choice, not an oversight.

• (a)Panchayat Samiti — This is the middle rung and cannot be the answer. The Panchayat Samiti sits at the block or intermediate level and was, in the committee's design, the most important of the three — the executive body with the funds, the staff and the responsibility for actually implementing development schemes, with the Block Development Officer as its executive officer. Part IX of the Constitution, inserted by the 73rd Amendment in 1992, calls it the panchayat at the intermediate level and makes it optional only for States with a population below twenty lakh.
• (b)Gram Panchayat — This is the base of the structure. The Gram Panchayat is the village-level body, and it is the only one of the three that the committee wanted filled by direct election; the two rungs above it were to be constituted indirectly from the tier below. It is also the tier that Article 40 of the Directive Principles had already asked the States to organise as a unit of self-government.
• (c)Zilla Panchayat — This is the district-level rung and is part of the three-tier scheme, so it is not the exception. Do not be thrown by the naming: the committee's report called the district body the Zila Parishad, and that is still the name used in Maharashtra, Karnataka and several other States, while Uttar Pradesh calls the same body the Zila Panchayat. The label differs, the tier is the same. In the committee's design this body was to be chaired by the District Collector and was advisory, coordinating and supervisory rather than executive.

Panchayati Raj in India begins with the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee of 1957, which recommended a three-rung elected structure — Gram Panchayat at the village, Panchayat Samiti at the block, Zila Parishad at the district — linked together by indirect election, with real development functions and funds devolved to it. The National Development Council accepted the recommendations in January 1958, and Rajasthan became the first State to launch Panchayati Raj, inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru at Nagaur on 2 October 1959, with Andhra Pradesh following the same year. The same three-tier design was eventually written into the Constitution by the 73rd Amendment Act, 1992, which added Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule.

The question works by slipping a real institution that a student has certainly heard of into a list where it does not belong. Nyaya Panchayats exist, they operate at the village level, and several State Panchayati Raj Acts — including Uttar Pradesh's, from 1947 — provide for them, so nothing about the phrase feels invented. What disqualifies it is function, not existence: the Balwant Rai Mehta structure is a chain of development administration, and the Nyaya Panchayat is a court of first instance for petty disputes. The safe method for any 'which is not a level' question on Panchayati Raj is to recite the three rungs by level rather than by name — village, block, district — and then check whether the odd option maps to a level or to a different kind of function. Nyaya Panchayat maps to a function. Notice too that Part IX of the Constitution, when it constitutionalised the three tiers in 1992, also left Nyaya Panchayats out; the parallel judicial track was eventually taken up separately through the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008.

• The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee was appointed in January 1957 by the Committee on Plan Projects to examine the Community Development Programme (1952) and the National Extension Service (1953); it reported in November 1957 and recommended 'democratic decentralisation'.
• Its three tiers: Gram Panchayat at the village (directly elected), Panchayat Samiti at the block (indirectly constituted, and the executive body of the scheme), and Zila Parishad at the district (indirectly constituted, chaired by the District Collector, with advisory, coordinating and supervisory functions).
• The National Development Council accepted the report in January 1958. Rajasthan was the first State to establish Panchayati Raj — inaugurated by Prime Minister Nehru at Nagaur on 2 October 1959 — followed by Andhra Pradesh.
• A Nyaya Panchayat is a village-level judicial body for petty civil and criminal cases set up under State law; Uttar Pradesh has provided for them since the U.P. Panchayat Raj Act, 1947. It is not part of the Balwant Rai Mehta development hierarchy, and Part IX of the Constitution does not deal with it.
• The three-tier structure became constitutional through the 73rd Amendment Act, 1992 (Part IX, Articles 243 to 243-O, and the Eleventh Schedule with 29 subjects), which came into force on 24 April 1993; the intermediate tier is optional for States with a population below twenty lakh.

• Treating Nyaya Panchayat as a fourth tier. It is a judicial body created by State law, not a rung of the development hierarchy, and Part IX does not cover it.
• Assuming the district body is called the same thing everywhere. The committee's report and most States say Zila Parishad; Uttar Pradesh says Zila Panchayat. Same tier, different label — do not read the change of name as a change of institution.
• Confusing Balwant Rai Mehta with Ashok Mehta. Balwant Rai Mehta (1957) gave the three-tier system with the block as the executive rung; Ashok Mehta (1977–78) recommended replacing it with two tiers — Zila Parishad and Mandal Panchayat — with the district as the first point of decentralisation.

UPPSC asks this either as 'which is NOT a level' or as a chronological ordering of the Panchayati Raj committees, and it likes to hide a real-but-irrelevant body such as Nyaya Panchayat or Gram Sabha among the tiers. UPSC prefers the constitutional side — Part IX provisions, reservation, the State Election Commission — so learn the committee's structure and the 73rd Amendment's structure side by side.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In the structure recommended by the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee, which tier was intended to be the executive body responsible for implementing development programmes?

  • (a)Gram Sabha
  • (b)Gram Panchayat
  • (c)Panchayat Samiti
  • (d)Zila Parishad

  Answer(c) Panchayat Samiti — the block-level body was to hold the funds, staff and executive responsibility. The Gram Panchayat was the directly elected village rung, while the Zila Parishad, chaired by the District Collector, was advisory, coordinating and supervisory.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which State was the first to establish Panchayati Raj on the Balwant Rai Mehta pattern?

  • (a)Andhra Pradesh
  • (b)Rajasthan
  • (c)Uttar Pradesh
  • (d)Maharashtra

  Answer(b) Rajasthan — inaugurated by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at Nagaur on 2 October 1959. Andhra Pradesh followed the same year; Maharashtra came later, in 1962, on the Vasantrao Naik Committee's pattern.