(1) As soon as may be after thie commencement of this Regulation, there shall be* constituted a Pradesh Council for the Union territory consisting of the following members, namely: —
(a) the Administrator;
(b) the member of the House of the People representing the Union territory;
(c) Collector;
(d) Sarpanchs of Panchayats; and
(e) not more than three persons, including a woman, If no woman becomes a member of the Pradesh Council under any of the foregoing clauses, not being persons in the service of the Government, to be nominated by the Administrator.
(2) Any member referred to in clauses (a) to (d) of sub-section (1) shall cease to be such member when he ceases to hold the office by virtu© of which he became such member. ]
(3) On the constitution of a Pradesh Council under sub-section (I), the Varishta Panchayat in existence immediately before the date of such constitution shall stand dissolved and every member of the Varishta Panchayat holding office as such immediately before such constitution shall, notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, cease to hold that office.
4. A person shall be disqualified for being nominated as, and for being, a member of the Pradesh Council if he has incurred or incurs any of the disqualifications specified in section 12 of the Dadra and Nagar Haveli Village Panchayats Regulation, 1965; 3 of 1965, SEC. 1]' THE GAZETTE OF INDIA EXTRAORDINARY 3
Provided that a person shall not he disqualified under this section merely on the ground of his holding the office by virtue ol which he becomes, or has been nominated as, such member.
5. The Pradesh Council, unless sooner dissolved, shall continue for four years from the date appointed for its first meeting and no longer, and the expiration of the said period of four years shall operate as a dissolution of the Pradesh Council:
Provided that the Administrator may, with the previous approval of the President, by order in writing, extend the said period by a period or periods not exceeding one year in the aggregate, and every such order shall be notified in the Official Gazette.
6. (I) A member of the Pradesh Council referred to in clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 3 may resign his office as such member by intimating in writing his intention to do so to the Administrator and such resignation shall take effect from the date of its receipt by the Administrator.
(2) A casual vacancy in the membership of the Pradesh Council under clause (e) of sub-section (1) of section 3 shall be filled by nomination in accordance with the provisions of this Regulation:
Provided that a member nominated under this sub-section shall' hold office only for the remainder of the term of office of the member in whose place he is nominated.
7. Every member (other than the Administrator) of the Pradesh Council shall, before taking his seat, make and subscribe before the Administrator or some person appointed in that behalf by him, and the Administrator shall, before taking his seat, make and subscribe before some person appointed in that behalf by the Central Government, an oath or affirmation according to the form set out for the purpose in the First Schedule.
8. No act or proceeding of the Pradesh Council shall be invalid by reason only of the existence of any vacancy among its members or of any defect in the constitution thereof.
d1. (1) The Administrator shall, from time to time, summon the Pradesh Council to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit, but six months- shall not intervene between its last sitting in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session.
(2) The Administrator may, from time to time,—
(a) prorogue the Pradesh Council;
(fa) with, the approval of the President, dissolve the Pradesh Council.