Traditional Panchayat System

Traditional Panchayat System of Dharaji

The traditional system of governance at Dharaji comprised of three important post. These were Tehsildar, Patwadi and Patel. Patel was the elected representative of the villagers and was appointed by the tehsildar in consensus with the villagers. The process of selecting a patel was also quite unique. The tehsil dar will visit the respective village/ villages and ask the villagers “ Who wish to be the patel of the village/ villages”. The people nominating themselves will come forward. On the spot itself an election will be conducted wherein the villagers will raise their hands in favor of the nominated representative after the tehsildar loudly calls out the name of the nominated representative.

The Patel was the key personnel of the village and would play an integral role in resolving the issues/ conflicts in the village. The other elected person such as tehsildar or patwadi were more or less involved in financial matters such as tax, revenue generation, revenue collection etc. This system has been gradually replaced by the three tier panchayat system.