The District Council or Zilla Parishad or Zilla Praja Parishad, District Panchayat, or Zilla Panchayat is the third tier of the Panchayati Raj system. Zilla Parishad constitute an elected body. Chairpersons or Block Pramukhs of Block Samitis or Presidents of MPPS are also represented in Zilla Parishad. The members of the State Legislature and State Legislative Council (Provided they are required voters in the District) and the members of the Parliament of India are members of the Zilla Parishad.

Constitution

Members of the Zilla Parishad are elected from the district on the basis of adult franchise for a term of five years. Zilla Parishad has minimum of 50 and maximum of 75 members. There are seats reserved for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, backward classes and women. Members chosen by direct election from electoral divisions in the District and the President of all the Mandal Praja Parishad form the members of Zilla Parishad. The Parishad is headed by a President and a Vice-President

Administrative structure

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), heads the administrative machinery of the Zilla Parishad. The CEO supervises the divisions of the Parishad and executes its development schemes.

Functions

• Provide essential services and facilities to the rural population and the planning and execution of the development programmes for the district.
• Construct bridges and roads.
• Implement rural employment schemes.
• Construct roads, schools, & public properties. And they take care of the public properties.

Sources of income

• Fixed grant from the State Government in proportion with the land revenue and money for works and schemes assigned to the Parishad.
• It gets a share from the income from local taxes.