Panchayati Raj system in Himachal Pradesh was established in a statutory form under the provisions of the Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, 1952 in the year 1954. Only 280 Gram Panchayats existed prior to the enactment of the Himachal Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1952. However, after the enactment of the said Act, 466 Gram Panchayats were established in the year 1954 and the number of Gram Panchayats was increased to 638 during the year 1962. On 1st November, 1966, the hilly areas of Punjab were merged in this State and consequently the number of Gram Panchayats rose to 1695. In the merged area, a three tier Panchayati Raj system was in existence under the provisions of Punjab Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad Act, whereas two tier system was prevalent in this State. With a view to bring uniformity in the Panchayati Raj system of the old and the newly merged areas, the Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, 1968 was enacted on 15th November, 1970 in this State and the two tier Panchayati Raj system was established throughout the State. Besides this the Nayaya Panchayats were also in existence in this State for discharging judicial functions, but during the year 1977 the Nayaya Panchayats were abolished and the judicial functions were transferred to the Gram Panchayats. After the enactment of the said Act in the year 1970 the existing Gram Sabhas were reorganised/bifurcated from time to time and new Gram Sabhas/Gram Panchayats were established.
At present there is 12 Zila Parishads, 81 Panchayat Samtitis and 3615 Gram Panchayats in the State. The following table showing the present setup including Total no. of ERs and average population in each level of PRIs:-
| Sr. No | Name of the PRIs |
Total Number
|
Total No. of ERs
|
Average population
|
| 1. | Zila Parishads |
12
|
249
|
500000
|
| 2. | Panchayat Samitis |
81
|
1696
|
80000
|
| 3. | Gram Panchayats |
3615
|
28633
|
1900
|
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Office: Directorate of Panchayati Raj Department , Block No - 27, S D A Complex Kasumpti, Shimla-9 Himachal Pradesh (India) Telephone 0177-2623805,2623814,2623820