Tamil Nadu has a long history of local selfgovemance as is evident Tamil Nadu, in those days was a land of village republics, with community groups undertaking many activities for their area development. This tradition reached its peak during the 10th and 11th centuries under the reign of Cholas when Village Councils used to levy taxes, improve community life and administer justice in their limited area.
These Village Councils had effective links with the Chola rulers. “Kuda Olai Murai” was the name of the secret ballot method exercised to elect members to the Village Councils. With the downfall of Cholas, the state experienced a decline of the village autonomy and rise of the centralized feudal administrative system. This continued till British rules introduced local self-govemance colonial British Government.
In the post independence era, the first enactment in democratic decentralization in the state was the Madras Village Panchayats Act, 1950. Pursuant to the White Paper on the ‘Reform of Local Administration’ in 1957, the Madras Panchayats Act, 1958 and Madras District Development Council Act were enacted with the following salient features.
