Cuttack: Orissa high court has upheld the Odisha govt’s decision to enhance financial powers of block development officers (BDOs) from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh without requiring countersignature of panchayat samiti chairpersons on bills and payment orders within the revised limit.A division bench comprising Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice M S Raman dismissed apprehensions that the move weakened the authority of elected representatives in panchayati raj institutions, while disposing of on Monday, a writ petition challenging the Odisha Panchayat Samiti Accounting Procedure (Amendment) Rules, 2025. Umesh Chandra Behera, chairman of Niali block panchayat samiti, filed the petition.Behera had sought quashing of the July 31, 2025, notification amending Rule 16(1) of the Odisha Panchayat Samiti Accounting Procedure Rules, 2002. He alleged the amendment was “arbitrary, illegal and contrary to the constitutional scheme of local self-governance” and diluted the powers vested in elected chairpersons under the Odisha Panchayat Samiti Act, 1959.The petitioner argued that the 73rd Constitutional Amendment empowered panchayati raj institutions as units of self-governance and that financial control was intended to remain with elected representatives. He contended that exclusion of the chairman or vice-chairman from countersigning payment orders up to Rs 10 lakh would undermine democratic accountability.“It is the submission of the petitioner that in the event the block development officer signs the payment orders/bills claimed with respect to amounts not exceeding the pecuniary limit stipulated in Rule 16 of the Accounting Rules, without the countersignature of chairman/vice-chairman, the elected representatives, would not be in a position to perform their responsibility in a sensible manner,” the bench noted.Rejecting the contention, the court said the apprehension was “without foundation” in view of safeguards available under the statutory framework. The judges referred to the state govt’s stand that the amendment aimed “to ensure timely execution, transparency, accountability and reduce the workload of the chairman”.The bench observed that Rules 90 and 91 of the Odisha Panchayat Samiti Accounting Procedure Rules empowered the chairman to stop payments made by the BDO and prohibited authorisation of payments contrary to law.“It cannot be gainsaid that dispensing with the requirement of signing the payment orders/bills below ten lakhs rupees by the chairman … would in any manner squeeze or take away/restrict the financial freedom or power,” the HC held in the May 18 judgment.The bench concluded that the 2025 amendment did not curtail the powers of chairpersons “as apprehended by the petitioner” and upheld the validity of the subordinate legislation.
