The functional core of the UP Panchayat Raj Act, 1947 lives in Chapter IV, where Sections 15 to 24 convert the Gram Panchayat from a deliberative body into a working unit of local self-government. Section 15 lists the mandatory functions a Gram Panchayat shall perform; Section 16 lists the functions the State Government may assign to it; and the sections that follow arm it with control over public streets, sanitation, primary schools, dispensaries and the day-to-day welfare of villagers. For judiciary and CLAT-PG aspirants the trap is precise: distinguish what is obligatory from what is discretionary, fix the exact section number, and tie each duty to the constitutional command of Article 243-G and Schedule XI. This note maps the entire functional architecture and anchors it to verified Supreme Court and High Court authority.
The constitutional anchor: Article 243-G and the Eleventh Schedule
Although the 1947 Act predates the 73rd Constitutional Amendment by nearly half a century, its functional provisions were recast to align with Article 243-G, which authorises State Legislatures to endow Panchayats with such powers and authority as are necessary to function as institutions of self-government, including the preparation and implementation of schemes for economic development and social justice across the twenty-nine matters in the Eleventh Schedule. The list in Section 15 of the Act is a near-mirror of that Schedule - agriculture, minor irrigation, animal husbandry, fisheries, rural housing, drinking water, poverty alleviation, education, health and sanitation. The constitutional design is foundational rather than self-executing: Article 243-G is an enabling provision, so the actual width of a Panchayat's functions is determined by the statute and the State Government's notifications, not by the Constitution directly. This is the structural backdrop set out in the introduction and constitutional background, and it explains why Section 15 repeatedly opens with the qualifier "subject to such conditions as may be specified by the State Government."
Section 15: the obligatory functions of the Gram Panchayat
Section 15 is the heart of the chapter. It provides that, subject to conditions specified by the State Government from time to time, a Gram Panchayat shall perform an enumerated set of functions grouped under broad civic heads. The principal clusters are: agriculture, including agricultural extension, promotion and development of horticulture, and development of wastelands and grazing lands while preventing their unauthorised alienation; minor irrigation, water management and watershed development; animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries; khadi, village and cottage industries; rural housing and rural electrification; drinking water supply; roads, culverts, bridges and waterways; education, including primary schools and adult and non-formal education; public health and sanitation, including drainage, conservancy, vaccination and prevention of epidemics; family welfare, women and child development; welfare of weaker sections, particularly Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; and the maintenance of community assets. The operative word "shall" signals that these are mandatory, not aspirational - though the statutory rider that they are subject to State conditions means a Panchayat cannot be faulted for non-performance where the State has not devolved the corresponding funds, functionaries or notifications. Examiners frequently test the head-by-head correspondence between Section 15 and Schedule XI, so the list must be carried in memory cluster by cluster.
Section 15-A: the annual development plan
Section 15-A operationalises the planning function. It obliges every Gram Panchayat to prepare each year a development plan for the Panchayat area and to submit it within the prescribed time to the Kshettra Panchayat for integration into the block-level plan. This provision is the statutory expression of the Article 243-G mandate to prepare "plans for economic development and social justice," and it links the village tier to the three-tier planning structure described in the constitution of the Gram, Kshettra and Zila Panchayats. The District Planning Committee under Article 243-ZD ultimately consolidates these plans into a draft district development plan. For the Gram Panchayat, the duty is twofold: a substantive duty to identify local development priorities and beneficiaries, and a procedural duty to forward the plan upward within time. Failure to prepare the plan is a dereliction of a statutory function, even though the Act does not attach a direct penal consequence to it.
Section 16: functions the State Government may assign
Where Section 15 is mandatory, Section 16 is permissive. It empowers the State Government, by notification and subject to specified conditions, to assign to a Gram Panchayat any or all of a further set of functions - most importantly the management and maintenance of any forest situated in the Panchayat area, the management of wastelands, pasture lands or vacant lands belonging to the Government within the area, and the collection of taxes or land revenue and maintenance of connected records. The distinction is examined repeatedly: Section 15 functions are obligatory and inhere in every Gram Panchayat by force of statute, whereas Section 16 functions are discretionary and accrue only upon a notification of assignment by the State Government. This permissive-mandatory dichotomy mirrors the classic municipal-law division between obligatory and discretionary functions. Because Section 16 can route revenue-collection and land-management powers to the village tier, it dovetails with the financial provisions discussed in property and funds of Panchayats and with the levy mechanics in tax levies, limits and procedures.
Section 17: control over public streets and waterways
Section 17 vests the Gram Panchayat with control and administration over public streets, culverts, bridges and waterways within its jurisdiction, other than those vested in another local authority or the Government. The Panchayat may construct new streets and bridges, divert, widen, level or close an existing public street, and lay out or improve waterways for the common benefit of the inhabitants. The power carries with it the corollary duty to keep such public ways free from obstruction. This is the statutory hook for the removal of encroachments on village roads and the village's right of way - the everyday work of keeping the commons usable. Where an encroachment also touches recorded Gram Sabha land such as a pond or a chak road, the Panchayat's street-control power under Section 17 operates alongside the eviction machinery of the UP Revenue Code, 2006 (Section 67), reflecting the courts' insistence that public utility land must be kept available for common use.
Sections 18 to 21: sanitation, schools, dispensaries and assistance
Section 18 confers sanitation and abatement powers: a Gram Panchayat may, by notice, require an owner or occupier to close, remove, alter, repair, cleanse, disinfect or put in good order any latrine, drain, cesspool or insanitary structure, and may itself remove noxious vegetation and filth. Section 19 places on the Panchayat the duty to maintain existing primary schools and Ayurvedic, Unani or Homoeopathic dispensaries, and to establish new ones, with financial support from the Zila Panchayat and the State Government. Section 20 permits two or more adjoining Gram Panchayats to combine for joint institutions - a shared school, hospital, road or bridge - when so directed by the prescribed authority. Section 21 obliges the Panchayat to render assistance to Government servants in the performance of their duties within the area, in such manner as may be prescribed. Read together, these provisions show the Panchayat operating both as a regulator (Section 18), a service provider (Sections 19-20) and an arm of general administration (Section 21).
Sections 22 to 24: representations, inquiries and collection contracts
The closing functional sections give the Panchayat a watchdog and agency role. Section 22 empowers it to make representations on matters affecting the welfare of inhabitants and to make recommendations regarding the appointment, transfer or dismissal of certain village-level officials such as patwaris and irrigation staff. Section 23 allows a Gram Panchayat, on receiving a complaint of misconduct by a Government servant functioning in the area, to inquire into the matter and, where a prima facie case exists, to forward the complaint with its own report to the proper authority. Section 24 authorises the Panchayat to enter into contracts with the State Government or a local authority to collect taxes, cesses or dues on an agreed collection charge - the contractual counterpart to the assignable revenue function under Section 16. These provisions complete the functional design: the Gram Panchayat is not merely a service deliverer but also a conduit for grievance, accountability and revenue agency between the village and the State.
The Bhumi Prabandhak Samiti and the trust over common land
A distinctive feature of the UP scheme is that management of village common land does not rest with the Gram Panchayat as such but with the Bhumi Prabandhak Samiti (Land Management Committee) constituted under Sections 28-A and 28-B. The BPS is the custodian of land vested in the Gram Sabha - ponds, grazing land, abadi sites and public utility land - and is charged with its superintendence, preservation and management. The Allahabad High Court has repeatedly held that this land is held in trust for the common use of the villagers, and that the Pradhan as Chairman and the Secretary of the BPS are under a legal obligation to report and resist encroachment; their inaction, the Court has observed, can amount to a breach of trust attracting departmental and even criminal consequences. This trust principle squarely echoes the Supreme Court's reasoning in Jagpal Singh v. State of Punjab (2011) 11 SCC 396, where the Court directed all State Governments to evict illegal encroachers from gram sabha and gram panchayat land and held that such land must be preserved for common village use, with regularisation of encroachments to be permitted only in the narrowest, exceptional circumstances.
Case law: enforcing the duty to act
The enforceability of Panchayat and local-body functions is illuminated by Municipal Council, Ratlam v. Vardhichand, AIR 1980 SC 1622, where Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer held that a statutory local authority cannot plead financial inability to escape its obligatory duty to provide sanitation and abate public nuisance, and that a court can compel performance of that duty on a time-bound basis. Although Ratlam concerned a municipality and Section 133 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, its ratio - that obligatory civic functions are enforceable duties, not optional charities - applies with equal force to the mandatory functions of a Gram Panchayat under Section 15. The complementary principle from Jagpal Singh is that where the duty concerns protection of common property, the public-trust character of the asset hardens the duty into one the courts will actively police. Together these authorities establish that the "shall" in Section 15, and the custodial role of the BPS over Gram Sabha land, are justiciable obligations, capable of being enforced through mandamus or analogous directions where a Panchayat or its functionaries default.
Obligatory versus discretionary: drawing the line in the answer book
The single most examined distinction in this topic is between obligatory and discretionary functions. Section 15 functions are obligatory because the section uses "shall" and they attach to every Gram Panchayat by operation of law; Section 16 functions are discretionary because they accrue only on a State Government notification of assignment and the section uses the permissive "may." The practical consequences differ. An obligatory function, on the Ratlam principle, can in an appropriate case be judicially compelled and cannot be defeated by a mere plea of want of funds, though the statutory rider "subject to such conditions as the State Government may specify" tempers this where devolution is incomplete. A discretionary function, by contrast, exists only to the extent assigned and within the conditions of the assignment. A clean answer should: state the section number, classify the function, quote the operative "shall" or "may," and close with the constitutional source in Article 243-G read with Schedule XI. The supervisory and meeting framework within which these functions are actually exercised is covered in conduct of business and meetings.
Exam synthesis: the functional map at a glance
Reduced to a revision skeleton: Section 15 - obligatory functions of the Gram Panchayat across agriculture, irrigation, animal husbandry, industry, housing, water, roads, education, health, sanitation and welfare, mirroring Schedule XI. Section 15-A - mandatory annual development plan submitted to the Kshettra Panchayat. Section 16 - functions assignable by State notification: forests, wastelands and pasture, tax and revenue collection. Section 17 - control over public streets, bridges and waterways. Section 18 - sanitation and nuisance abatement. Section 19 - maintenance of primary schools and dispensaries. Section 20 - joint institutions of adjoining Panchayats. Section 21 - assistance to Government servants. Section 22 - representations and recommendations. Section 23 - inquiry into official misconduct. Section 24 - tax-collection contracts. Sections 28-A and 28-B - the Bhumi Prabandhak Samiti as trustee of Gram Sabha common land. Tie the obligatory functions to Ratlam for enforceability and to Jagpal Singh for the public-trust duty over common land, and the topic is fully covered.
Frequently asked questions
Which section lists the obligatory functions of a Gram Panchayat?
Section 15 of the UP Panchayat Raj Act, 1947 lists the obligatory functions, which the Gram Panchayat shall perform subject to conditions specified by the State Government. They span agriculture, minor irrigation, animal husbandry, rural housing, drinking water, roads, education, public health, sanitation and welfare of weaker sections, broadly mirroring the Eleventh Schedule under Article 243-G.
What is the difference between Section 15 and Section 16 functions?
Section 15 functions are obligatory - the section uses "shall" and they attach to every Gram Panchayat by force of statute. Section 16 functions are discretionary - the State Government "may" assign them by notification, and they include management of forests, wastelands and pasture, and collection of taxes or land revenue. The mandatory-versus-assignable distinction is the most heavily examined point in this topic.
What does Section 15-A require?
Section 15-A obliges every Gram Panchayat to prepare a development plan for its area each year and submit it to the Kshettra Panchayat within the prescribed time. It is the statutory expression of the Article 243-G mandate to prepare plans for economic development and social justice, feeding into the block and district planning structure.
Who manages common village land - the Gram Panchayat or another body?
Common land vested in the Gram Sabha is managed by the Bhumi Prabandhak Samiti (Land Management Committee) under Sections 28-A and 28-B, not the Gram Panchayat directly. The Allahabad High Court has held this land is held in trust for villagers, and the Pradhan and Secretary must report and resist encroachment, consistent with Jagpal Singh v. State of Punjab (2011) 11 SCC 396.
Can a Panchayat refuse a sanitation duty on grounds of lack of funds?
On the principle of Municipal Council, Ratlam v. Vardhichand, AIR 1980 SC 1622, a statutory local body cannot plead financial inability to escape an obligatory sanitation or public-health duty, and a court can compel performance on a time-bound basis. The same logic applies to the mandatory functions of a Gram Panchayat under Section 15, subject to the statutory rider on State-specified conditions.
What power does a Gram Panchayat have over public streets?
Section 17 gives the Gram Panchayat control over public streets, bridges, culverts and waterways within its area not vested elsewhere. It may construct, divert, widen or close a street and lay out waterways for the common benefit, and must keep public ways free of obstruction - the basis for removing encroachments on village roads, often read with Section 67 of the UP Revenue Code, 2006.