73. The Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1993—Article 40 of the Constitution
which enshrines one of the Directive Principles of State Policy lays down that the State shall take
steps to organise village panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be
necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government.
In the light of the above, a new Part IX relating to the Panchayats has been inserted in the
Constitution to provide for among other things, Gram Sabha in a village or group of villages;
constitution of Panchayats at village and other level or levels; direct elections to all seats in
Panchayats at the village and intermediate level, if any and to the offices of Chairpersons of
Panchayats at such levels; reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in
proportion to their population for membership of Panchayats and office of Chairpersons in
Panchayats at each level; reservation of not less than one-third of the seats for women; fixing
tenure of five years for Panchayats and holding elections within a period of six months in the
event of supersession of any Panchayat.
74. The Constitution (Seventy-fourth Amendment) Act, 1993—In many states local bodies
have become weak and ineffective on account of a variety of reasons, including the failure to
hold regular elections, prolonged supersession and inadequate devolutions of powers and
functions. As a result, Urban Local Bodies are not able to perform effectively as vibrant
democratic units of self-government.
Having regard to these inadequacies a new part IX-A relating to the Municipalities has been
incorporated in the Constitution to provide for among other things, constitution of three types of
Municipalities, i.e., Nagar Panchayats for areas in transition from a rural area to urban area,
Municipal Councils for smaller urban areas and Municipal Corporations for larger urban areas.
75. The Constitution (Seventy-fifth Amendment) Act, 1994—The operation of the Rent
Control Legislations, as are today in various states, suffers from major weaknesses and has led to
various unintended consequences. Some of the deleterious legal consequences include mounting
and mending litigation, inability of the courts to provide timely justice, evolution of practices and
systems to bypass the operations of rent legislations and steady shrinkage of rental housing
market.
The Supreme Court taking note of the precarious state of rent litigation in the country in
case of Prabhakaran Nair and others vs. State of Tamilnadu (Civil Writ Petition 506 of 1986) and
other writs observed that the Supreme Court and the High Courts should be relieved of the heavy
burden of rent litigation. Tiers of appeals should be curtailed. Laws should be simple, rational
and clear, litigations must come to end quickly.
Therefore, this Act amends Article 323B in Part XIVA of the Constitution so as to give
timely relief to the rent litigants by providing for setting up of state-level Rent Tribunals in order
to reduce the tiers of appeals and to exclude the jurisdiction of all courts, except that of the
Supreme Court, under Article 136 of the Constitution.
76. The Constitution (Seventy-sixth Amendment) Act, 1994—The policy of reservation of
seats in educational institutions and reservation of appointments or posts in public services for
Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has had a long history in Tamilnadu
dating back to the year 1921. The extent of reservation has been increased by the State
Government from time to time, consistent with the needs of the majority of the people and it has
now reached the level of 69 per cent (18 per cent Scheduled Castes, one per cent Scheduled
Tribes and 50 per cent Other Backward Classes).