The District Planning Committee (DPC) is a constitutional institution mandated by Article 243ZD of the Constitution of India. Its origin lies in the push for decentralized planning, which gained constitutional backing with the Constitution (Seventy-fourth Amendment) Act, 1992. The DPC was created to solve the problem of fragmented planning by integrating the development plans of both rural and urban local bodies within a district.
The mechanism of the DPC is laid out in Article 243ZD, which requires every state to constitute a DPC at the district level. Its primary function is to consolidate the plans prepared by the Panchayats and the Municipalities in the district and prepare a single draft development plan for the district as a whole. In preparing this draft, the DPC must consider matters of common interest, such as spatial planning, sharing of water and other natural resources, integrated infrastructure development, and environmental conservation. The State Legislature determines the composition and manner of election, but the provision mandates that not less than four-fifths of the total members must be elected by and from among the elected members of the Panchayat at the district level and the Municipalities, in proportion to the ratio of the rural and urban populations. The Chairperson of the DPC then forwards the recommended development plan to the State Government.
The DPC is closely connected to the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts of 1992, which gave constitutional status to Panchayats and Municipalities, respectively, thereby establishing the framework for democratic decentralization. It is also related to the Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC), which is constituted under Article 243ZE for metropolitan areas. The core concept it embodies is decentralized planning, ensuring a bottom-up approach to development. The constitutional provision itself has not been recently amended, but its effective implementation remains a challenge in many states, with some states having been slow to constitute DPCs in accordance with Article 243ZD.