Local self Government in Assam started with he Assam Rural Panchayat Act, 1948. After independence of India, Panchayati Raj was introduced in few states of India. Assam was one of them. In 1948, the Assam Rural Panchayat Act got enacted by the legislature. It marked a new beginning towards local self government.
Features of Assam Rural Panchayat Act, 1948:
- The Assam Rural Panchayat Act, 1948 introduced two types of Panchayats: the Primary Panchayat and the Rural Panchayat.
- The Primary Panchayat consist of all the resident adults of the area.
- Primary Panchayat included not more than eleven and not less than five members including the President and a Vice-President.
- The Act divided rural areas into various rural Panchayat areas.
- The President, Vice-President and the Members of the Primary Panchayats are elected by adult citizens.
- Every Primary Panchayat elected one representative for the Rural Panchayat.
- The President and the Vice-President of the Rural Panchayat are elected by the members.
- The term of the President and Vice-President was three years.
- The Act outlined 34 different functions covering all aspects of rural life.
- Autonomous hill districts were exempted from the provisions of the Assam Rural Panchayat Act, 1948.
The Assam Rural Panchayat Act, 1948 was amended and replaced by the Assam Panchayat Act, 1959, the Assam Panchayati Raj Act, 1972, the Assam Panchayati Raj Act, 1986 and finally the Assam Panchayat Act, 1994.