Panchayat secretaries alone can issue certificates, rules Ombudsman

‘Panchayat president cannot enter into contracts on behalf of the local body’

Panchayat secretaries are the only authorised persons to issue certificates from a local body, the Ombudsman for Local Bodies has ruled.

The order was issued by P.S. Gopinathan, the Ombudsman, saying that the no-objection certificate issued by K.D. Prasad, former president of the Chellanam village panchayat, to an applicant for the operation of a proposed LPG cylinder godown in Kumbalangi village was ultra vires. The certificate was issued for the purpose of obtaining an explosive licence.

The former panchayat president contended before the Ombudsman that the certificate was issued in 2009 for making LPG cylinders easily available to residents of the local body as the nearest agency was situated at Thoppumpady, nearly 18-km away from the panchayat. The functioning of the gas agency would also have provided employment opportunities to a few persons, he argued.

He conceded that he had not verified whether the panchayat president had the legal right to issue such a certificate.

The Ombudsman noted that the Panchayat Raj Act and Rules did not empower civic heads to issue any certificate on behalf of the local body. The panchayat secretary alone can issue the certificate on behalf of the local body after the application is considered by the panchayat committee. If the application does not require the clearance of the panchayat committee, the secretary can issue the certificate, the order said.

Though the panchayat president can issue directions to the panchayat secretary and take action in the event of the official failing to discharge his duties, he cannot enter into any agreement or contracts on behalf of the local body, the Ombudsman clarified.