Previous Year Question

The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee recommended a three-tier Panchayati Raj structure in 1957 for democratic decentralisation. Its three levels were the Gram Panchayat at the village level, Panchayat Samiti at the Block level and Zila Parishad/Zilla Panchayat at the District level.

The Gram Panchayat was the village-level institution in this structure. It provided an institutional basis for elected representation and local participation at the village level.

The Panchayat Samiti was the institution at the Block level. The Committee specifically recommended an elected self-governing institution at this level and proposed that the Panchayat Samiti should be constituted through indirect elections from Village Panchayats.

The Zila Parishad/Zilla Panchayat constituted the district-level institution and formed the highest rural tier of the three-tier structure. Thus, the basic Committee model was Gram Panchayat → Panchayat Samiti → Zila Parishad.

Nyaya Panchayat was not a tier of this three-tier structure. A Nyaya Panchayat may be associated with the settlement of minor disputes or local judicial functions, but it was not one of the three administrative-developmental levels recommended in the Balwant Rai Mehta model.

For examination purposes, remember the direct sequence—

Village → Gram Panchayat
Block → Panchayat Samiti
District → Zila Parishad

Therefore, Nyaya Panchayat is not part of the three-tier structure.