The Kerala cabinet on Thursday decided to recommend to the Governor to promulgate an ordinance to amend the sections dealing with number of members in local-self-government institutions under Kerala Panchayati Raj (KPR) Act and Kerala Municipality Act.
The proposed amendment is to increase the number of members by one in committees and councils of panchayats, municipalities and corporations. At present the number of gram panchayat members is fixed at a minimum of 13 and a maximum of 23. In the ordinance it is proposed to increase it to a minimum of 14 and maximum of 24. The number of representatives in district panchayats at present is fixed at a minimum of 16 and maximum of 32. In the ordinance it is proposed to increase it to 17 and 33 respectively. Similar changes have been proposed in the composition of block panchayats as well.
At present there are 25 elected members in municipal councils and town panchayats for a population which is not more than 20000. With the amendment proposed the number shall be 26 while the maximum members will become 53 from 52.
At present, the representatives for corporations with less than four lakh population is 55, which as per the amendment shall become 56. For corporations with more than four lakh population the maximum number of councilors at present are 100, that will be amended to 101.
The cabinet has approved the draft of the ordinance. The aim is to increase the number of representatives in proportion to the increase in population.
Compensation for Nambi Narayanan
The cabinet has also decided to accept in principle the recommendation to give Rs 1.3 crore to scientist Nambi Narayanan who was falsely implicated in ISRO espionage case to settle the case filed at Thiruvananthapuram sub court. This is apart from the Rs 50 lakh given as per the Supreme Court order and Rs 10 lakh recommended by the National Human Rights Commission.