Revision summary
Article 243ZD creates a District Planning Committee in every district. Its function is to consolidate panchayat and municipality plans and to prepare a draft district development plan. The draft must consider common rural–urban interests, infrastructure, environment, and resources. Four-fifths of members are elected from local bodies in rural–urban proportion. The chairperson forwards the plan to the State; weak practice often leaves the function on paper.
Model answer
Introduction
The District Planning Committee is a constitutional body under Article 243ZD, inserted by the Constitution (Seventy-fourth Amendment) Act, 1992. Its function is to consolidate rural and urban local plans into one draft district development plan.
Body
Constitutional functions
- Article 243ZD requires every State to constitute a District Planning Committee at the district level.
- The Committee consolidates the plans prepared by panchayats and municipalities in the district.
- It prepares a draft development plan for the district as a whole.
- In preparing that draft, it must have regard to matters of common interest between panchayats and municipalities, including spatial planning, sharing of water and other physical and natural resources, integrated development of infrastructure, and environmental conservation.
- It must also have regard to the extent and type of available resources, whether financial or otherwise.
Composition and onward path
- Four-fifths of members are elected by, from, and among the elected members of the district’s panchayats and municipalities, in proportion to the rural–urban population.
- The rest are appointed as the State may provide; the chairperson is also as the State may provide.
- The chairperson forwards the development plan to the State government.
- Metropolitan areas have a separate Metropolitan Planning Committee under Article 243ZE.
Practice
- Where the Committee is late, nominated, or starved of data and funds, district planning remains a departmental list, which is why the 74th Amendment is often called an unfulfilled institutional promise.
- The function is planning integration, not a substitute for the elected council’s own executive powers under the Eleventh and Twelfth Schedules.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD P[Panchayat plans] --> DPC[Article 243ZD DPC] M[Municipal plans] --> DPC DPC --> DR[Draft district plan] DR --> ST[State government]
Conclusion
The District Planning Committee’s function is to join panchayat and municipal plans into one draft district plan, with regard to shared resources, infrastructure, environment, and available means, and to send that draft to the State. Article 243ZD states the duty; State practice decides whether it is real.
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Does the DPC levy taxes?
No. Tax assignment remains with the State and the local bodies. The DPC’s listed function is planning consolidation.
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Is a metropolitan city covered by the DPC?
Metropolitan areas are to have a Metropolitan Planning Committee under Article 243ZE. Other districts use Article 243ZD.
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