SERAULIM: Irked with the procedure being adopted to summon the Seraulim gram sabha meeting twice, on Sunday (February 28) and Wednesday (March 17), a group of Seraulim villagers have complained to the Directorate of Panchayats through the Salcete Block Development Officer against Sarpanch Leslie Dourado, Secretary and panchas of Seraulim Panchayat.
The Seraulim villagers have drawn the Directorate of Panchayats Panchayat’s attention to ‘the flouting of the Goa Panchayat (Gram Sabha Meetings) Rules, 1996 issued notification for convening the gram sabha falsely and illegally.
The sarpanch issued a gram sabha meeting notice on February 22 informing that an ordinary gram sabha meeting will be held on February 28, at 10 am in the office of the village panchayat of Seraulim.
The ordinary gram sabha meeting which was supposed to be in the month of January was not called thereby defaulted in conducting the gram sabha meeting. The Rule 7 provides for seven days clear notice for an ordinary gram sabha meeting whereas the panchayat gave only five days clear notice and the same was given in clear violation of the rules.
The gram sabha was cancelled as the members objected to the short notice period, stated a villager and the other eight signatories in the complaint letter.
The sarpanch again issued a notice on the very next day on March 1 informing that an extraordinary gram sabha meeting will be held on Wednesday (March 17) with a single point agenda to place and approve the Budget of proposed year 2021-22.
The Seraulim villagers alleged that the sarpanch, panchayat members and secretary are avoiding the gram sabha members for reasons best known to them and are secretly trying to convene the meeting and approve the Budget which may be prepared by them with ulterior motives. Sarpanch Dourado refuted these allegations claiming that the due procedure had been followed to convene the extraordinary gram sabha.
