(General) Rules, 1997-English - Panchyati Raj Department

and valuation and in a criminal case, the nature of offences, and, if possibleparticulars of the matter mentioned in section 42.(3) No Gram Panchayat shall receive the revenue proceedingsdirectly but the Gram Panchayat shall hear and decide only those revenueproceedings which are transferred to it by the revenue court under subsection(3) of section 31 and section 48. The Pradhan or Up-Pradhan, as thecase may be, shall constitute a bench to decide the revenue proceedings inthe same manner as prescribed for civil suit and the bench shall also hear anddecide the proceedings in the similar manner as laid down for deciding thecivil suits.(4) The Pradhan or in his absence the Up-Pradhan shall form a benchof three Panches keeping in view the provisions of section 30 for the trial anddecision of the case, suit or proceedings.(5) Every bench shall choose one of the Panches to be the Chairmanof that bench unless the Pradhan or Up-Pradhan is a member of it in whichcase he will be the Chairman of the bench.50. Issue of notice and process by Gram Panchayat .-(1) ThePradhan or in his absence the Up-Pradhan of the Gram Panchayat, who hasreceived application, shall issue summons or notices to the parties concernedin accordance with the procedure laid down in rules 69 to 79 and shall takeaction to secure their appearance before the bench of the Gram Panchayat inthe manner laid down in section 63 of the Act. The Pradhan or the Up-Pradhan, as the case may be, shall also intimate the members of the benchabout the date fixed for hearing.(2) All notices to the parties, issued under sub-rule(1) shall berequired to be returned before the date of hearing and in case service has notbeen affected and the parties remain absent, the Pradhan or Up-Pradhan, asthe case may be, shall adjourn the case and shall inform the Panches of suchadjournment.51. Examination of the parties and their witnesses under section54(3) of the Act.- (1) When hearing a civil suit or a revenue proceeding, theGram Panchayat shall first examine the plaintiff or applicant and hiswitnesses and thereafter the defendant or objector and his witnesses, as thecase may be, while trying a criminal case it shall first explain to the accusedthe charge or charges made against him and shall thereafter recordprosecution evidence and thereafter examine the accused and his defence :Provided that if in a criminal case an accused makes a clear andvoluntary confession of the crime, he may be convicted without recordingany evidence and in civil suits or revenue proceedings if the claim of theplaintiff or the applicant is totally admitted by the other party, it will not benecessary for the Gram Panchayat to record any evidence.(2) Each party shall be allowed to cross examine another party andtheir witnesses just after their examination-in-Chief but the Gram Panchayat24