34Quorum and procedure

(1) The quorum for a meeting of the Gram Panchayat shall be onehalf of the total number of members. If, at the time appointed for the meeting, a quorum is not present, the presiding authority shall wait for thirty minutes, and if within such period there is no quorum, the presiding authority shall adjourn the meeting to such time on the following day or such future day as he may fix. He shall, similarly, after waiting for thirty minutes adjourn the meeting if, at any time, after it has begun, attention is drawn to the want of a quorum. A notice of the meeting so fixed shall be pasted in the office of the Gram Panchayat. The business which could not be considered at the meeting so postponed for want of quorum, shall be brought before and disposed of at the meeting so fixed or at any subsequent adjourned meeting at which there is a quorum.

(2) Save as otherwise provided by or under this Act, at every meeting of Gram Panchayat, the Pradhan or in his absence the Up-Pradhan shall preside, and in the absence of both, the members present shall elect one from amongst themselves to preside for the occasion.

(3) All questions shall, unless otherwise specifically provided, be decided by a majority of votes of the members present and voting. The Pradhan or Up-Pradhan or person presiding, as the case may be, unless he refrains from voting shall give his vote before declaring the number of votes for and against a question and in the case of equality of votes, he may give his casting vote.

(4) No member of a Gram Panchayat shall vote on, or take part in the discussion of, any question coming up for consideration at a meeting of a Gram Panchayat, if the question is one in which, apart from its general application to the public, he has any pecuniary interest, and if the person presiding has such an interest, he shall not preside over the meeting when such question comes up for consideration.

(5) If the person presiding is believed by any member present at the meeting to have any such pecuniary interest in any matter under discussion, and if a motion to that effect be carried, he shall not preside at the meeting during such discussion or vote on or take part in it. Any member of the Gram Panchayat may be chosen to preside at the meeting during the continuance of such discussion.