Patiala Villages Launch Unified Protest Against Panchayat Fund Cuts
Villages across the Nabha subdivision in Patiala district have launched a coordinated movement challenging the longstanding practice of deducting 30% from panchayat revenues under the label of secretary wages. Multiple gram sabhas have formally passed resolutions rejecting this levy and demanding its immediate revocation from the Punjab rural development and panchayats department.
The resistance reached a critical point on Thursday when residents of Ramgarh village, led by sarpanch Kuldeep Singh, unanimously refused to permit any deduction from their village revenue. This action follows similar objections raised by Thuha Patti, Kalasna, and Raisal villages, creating a wave of organized opposition throughout Nabha tehsil.
The Escalating Conflict Over Deductions
The controversy intensified when it was revealed that two panchayats that had explicitly opposed the 30% deduction earlier this year were still compelled to pay reduced amounts. Kalasna sarpanch Gurdhian Singh disclosed that his panchayat paid 22% after facing sustained pressure from officials. Following an awareness march organized by the Internationalist Democratic Platform (IDP), villagers have now resolved to prevent even token deductions in the future.
Similarly, Raisal village, which earned Rs 54 lakh from shamlat land bids, paid Rs 7.5 lakh toward secretary wages. Former sarpanch Harbans Singh highlighted that Raisal already contributes nearly Rs 3 crore annually to the state exchequer through GST, land transaction taxes, and various levies. He alleged that instead of supporting villages as seen in southern states, the government doesn't leave villages with their own income.
Legal Basis and Historical Context
IDP Punjab member Gurmeet Singh Thuhi emphasized that the 30% deduction lacks statutory backing. He clarified that while gram sabhas have the right under the panchayati raj framework to pass such resolutions, no law passed by the Vidhan Sabha authorizes taking 30% of village revenue.
Thuhi traced the history of these deductions, noting they began as a 10% share, later increased to 20%, and in recent years rose to 30% purely through departmental circulars. He cited a Comptroller and Auditor General technical inspection report that recorded instructions from the Punjab rural development and panchayats department in December 2012 mandating that 20% of income from shamlat auctions over the preceding three years be deposited with panchayat samitis as panchayat secretary wages.
Audit findings for 2014-15 recorded a short collection of Rs 2.28 crore from 415 gram panchayats, indicating the state treated the contribution as mandatory despite its basis solely in executive instructions.
The Punjab Panchayat Secretaries (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2013 require gram panchayats to contribute a proportionate amount from their own sources toward secretary salaries but do not specify any percentage, leaving the rate entirely to departmental directives.
Official Justification and Financial Scale
District and departmental officials continue to defend the 30% deduction as necessary for paying employees at the panchayat samiti and zila parishad levels. Uma Shankar, director of the Punjab rural development and panchayats department, stated that the collection from this 30% revenue cut is meant for salary disbursal of approximately 2,000 employees working under panchayat samitis and zila parishad.
He revealed that the annual collection amounts to approximately Rs 550 crore from village panchayats across Punjab. In Patiala district alone, officials estimate annual collections of about Rs 14 crore under this head, highlighting the significant financial stakes involved.
Gram panchayats in Punjab collectively hold around 1.41 lakh acres of shamlat land, whose annual auction forms a major income source. In Nabha tehsil specifically, about 3,100 acres are auctioned each year, creating a substantial revenue pool from which the 30% deduction is taken.
Broader Implications and Pending Dues
According to a recent affidavit filed by the director of Punjab rural development and panchayats department in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, about 5,228 of Punjab's 13,236 gram panchayats have no income from their own resources, while another 8,008 have annual incomes of only around Rs 2 lakh. The affidavit also states that Rs 76 crore in honorarium for sarpanches and panches from 2013-2024 remains pending, for which the department has sought funds from the finance department.
Ramgarh's protest is part of a wider trend. Thuha Patti was among the first to formally reject the deduction, passing resolutions in June 2022 and January 2023 opposing the 30% cut and demanding that the money remain within the village for development. Despite these resolutions, officials allegedly pressured the panchayat to release about 22%, linking clearance of labor wages and development work to payment of the share. The village has also sought a refund of the deducted amount.
IDP activists have framed the dispute as a battle between gram sabha sovereignty and executive fiat. Thuhi emphasized that the 30% practice evolved from departmental circulars—2012 orders on 20% and 2020 instructions raising it to 30%—not from any clause of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act or any assembly-approved measure.
With rising revenue pressures, unpaid elected representatives, and intensifying resistance from villages like Ramgarh, Kalasna, Raisal, and Thuha Patti, the contest over the 30% deduction is rapidly emerging as a significant rural governance issue in Punjab that could potentially spread to other regions.
