RAS question
Tenure of PRI members in Rajasthan:
Correct answer: (B) 5 years.
Members of Panchayati Raj Institutions in Rajasthan hold office for the five-year term of their respective institution, unless the institution is dissolved earlier under the Act.
Explanation
The tenure is five years because the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 fixes the duration of every Panchayati Raj Institution at five years from the date of its first meeting, unless it is dissolved sooner. The same Act then ties the term of members and chairpersons to the term of the concerned Panchayati Raj Institution. Read together, these provisions mean that members across the three tiers of Rajasthan’s Panchayati Raj system serve for the institution’s five-year duration, not for a separate or shorter tenure of their own.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Six years is wrong because the Act specifies five years from the first meeting, with no six-year tenure for Panchayati Raj Institutions.
- (C) Four years is wrong because the statutory duration of the institution is five years, and members hold office during that institutional term.
- (D) Three years is wrong because the Act does not prescribe a three-year term for PRI members; it links them to the five-year duration of the institution.
Concept
This tests the constitutional and state-law framework of local self-government, especially the tenure rule for Panchayati Raj Institutions. It recurs in RAS because Panchayati Raj is a core part of Rajasthan’s political and administrative system.