Panchayat:Repo18/Law Manual Page0580

THE KERALA PANCHAYAT RAJ (COMPOUNDING OF OFFENCES) RULES, 1996*

[Translation in English of the Kerala Panchayat Raj (Compounding of Offences ) Rules, 1996, published under the authority of the Governor.] S.R.O. No. 390/96.— In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 246 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 (13 of 1994) read with Section 254 thereof, the Government of Kerala hereby make the following rules, namely:

RULES

1. Short title and commencement.-

(1) These rules may be called the Kerala Panchayat Raj (Compounding of Offences ) Rules, 1996.

(2) They shall come into force at once. 2. Definitions. In these rules unless the context otherwise requires,(a) 'Act' means the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 (13 of 1994); (b) 'Section' means a section of the Act;

(c) Words and expressions used and not defined in these rules, but defined in the Act shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Act.

3. Compoundable offences and offences compoundable with the permission of the court.—

The offences punishable under the sections specified in column (1) of the schedule to these rules may be compounded and the cases pending prosecution before court may be compounded in the manner set out in column (4) of the schedule. He

4. Application for compounding of offences.

The application for compounding of offences shall be affixed with court fee stamp worth rupees five and be presented to the Secretary.

5. Fee for compounding of offences.-

The applicant shall remit an amount of rupees ten as compounding fee along with the application under Rule 4 and the Secretary shall give a receipt for the same and credit the amount to the Panchayat fund under the head "VI. Miscellaneous Revenue - Other Receipts".

6. Dues to the Panchayat to be paid before compounding.—

If the offence to be compounded is with regard to any dues to be remitted to the Panchayat by any party that offence shall be compounded only after the dues are remitted to the Panchayat

7. Authority to order compounding.

The Secretary shall, with the permission of the President, pass orders on the applications for compounding and communicate the same to the applicant within thirty days of receipt of the application:

Provided that the compounding of an offence shall be done only after removing the cause for the offence and making sufficient safeguards for not repeating the offence.