Panchayat:Repo18/Law Manual Page0581

8. The Secretary may reject the application for compounding.

The Secretary may, with the permission of the President and after giving sufficient reason in writing, reject any application for compounding of an offence.

9. Fine to be collected before compounding of offence. -

The Secretary shall, if he decides, with the permission of the president, to compound an offence on the application of a party, direct the party to pay the dues, if any, to the Panchayat and an amount not exceeding fifty per cent of the fine prescribed for such offence under the Act, within seven days and on remittance of such amounts as directed, communicate the order compounding of such offence to the party concerned.

10. Compounding of offences repeated.—

An offence once compounded, shall not in the ordinary course be compounded again, if repeated: Provided that the Secretary may, if satisfied that the offence will not be repeated further and the party who had committed the offence is willing to pay to the Panchayat the compounding fee, fine and other dues, if any, as directed by him in accordance with the provisions in the Act, with the permission of the President accept the application for compounding of offence as a special case and compound the offence after the compounding fee, fine and other dues having been remitted by the party.

11. Application for compounding of offence with the permission of court.-

Application for compounding of offences shall be presented to the court concerned by the Secretary with the permission of the President after depositing the compounding fees under Rule 5 and the fee payable under Rule 9 by the party and after observing the formalities governing the presentation of application to the courts.

12. Order of the Court to be communicated to the Secretary of the Panchayat concerned.—

The Court shall communicate the orders on the application under Rule 11 to the Secretary of the Panchayat concerned.

13. Compounding after obtaining permission of court.-

(1) The Secretary, may, if the party produces the attested copy of Court order granting permission for compounding of offence, after crediting the amount deposited by the party in the revenue receipts of the Panchayat, compound the offences with the permission of the President.

(2) The Secretary shall, in all cases where the application for permission of compounding of offences is rejected by the court, refund the deposit to the party.

(3) The Secretary shall, in case an application for permission for compounding of offence is rejected, refund the amount deposited by the party.

14. Order of compounding to be communicated to the party. -

The orders of the Secretary compounding offence shall be communicated to the party concerned forthwith.

15. Compounding of offence committed by persons prosecuted under Section 210 of the Act.-

Notwithstanding anything contained in these rules, the Secretary may, without the permission of the court, compound offence committed by a defaulter who has been prosecuted under Section 210 of the Act and Rule 27 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj (Tax Assessment, Levy and Appeal) Rules, 1996, with the permission of the President:

Provided that an order compounding an offence shall not be passed before collecting from the defaulter the amount due and an amount not exceeding fifty per cent of such amount as fine.