SHILLONG, MAY 25: The three autonomous district councils have asked the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government to take them into consideration before finalising its proposal for the proposed amendment of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution.
This was expressed during a meeting chaired by the deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong in the presence of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Joint Secretary in-charge North East Satyendra Garg here on Friday.
Apart from representatives from three Councils – Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC), Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) and Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC), the traditional heads also attended the meeting.
After the meeting, KHADC chief Pynshngain N Syiem said that so far there has been not a single discussion between the state government and the ADCs on the matter related to the proposed amendment of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution.
“Therefore, we have urged the deputy chief minister to consider inviting the three ADCs for discussion before the state government finalising its proposal on this regard,” he told reporters.
Asked, Syiem said that issues like increasing the number of seats in the ADCs and including them under Article 280 of the Constitution was also discussed during the meeting.
“We have also proposed the need to include two members in the state finance commission should also be from the ADCs and that the term village council should instead be known as village dorbars. The issues raised by us are now left to the state Cabinet to decide,” he said.
On the other hand, Joint Secretary in-charge North East Satyendra Garg said that the ministry has agreed to have this meeting based on the request of the chief minister Conrad K Sangma during a meeting held in New Delhi last month.
Garg said that both the state government and the autonomous district councils have given their opinions during the meeting.
“We will take all these discussions back to our ministry and hope we will be able to finalise the amendment of the Sixth Schedule,” he added.
Asserting that the amendment of the Sixth Schedule is very important, the joint secretary said, “We will keep the point of view of the people of Meghalaya, the state government and ADCs and we will go forward with the amendment of the Sixth Schedule.”
Admitting that there has been a delay for over 17 years ever since the discussion on the matter started way back in 2001, Garg said, “I was told (during this span of time) there has been three drafts. We hope now this draft which we are working on it should become a law.”
Reacting to a query, the MHA official revealed that both the state government and the ADCs were on board on many issues except in one or two issues.
“It is good to know that the views of the state government are also based on the views of the ADCs. Almost in all issues they have identical views except on the strengthening of JHADC where the council and government has got different view but we will take a call,” he stated.
By Our Reporter
+ There are no comments
Add yours