‘Govt not serious but will attend meeting’

SHILLONG, JAN 17: Even as the opposition decided to attend the all political parties meeting called by the chief minister Mukul Sangma on January 20, they have however accused the Mukul led coalition government of not being serious on the issue relating to the proposed amendment of the Sixth Schedule to the Indian Constitution.

“The Commissioner and Secretary of the DCA department had verbally informed that the views submitted by the three autonomous district councils (ADCs) was lying pending with the law department for the past one year,” UDP general secretary Allantry F Dkhar told newsmen after the meeting on Saturday evening.

The DCA commissioner and secretary apparently told that the files were returned to the District Council Affairs (DCA) department on Friday, Dkhar informed adding that the department is in the process of formulating its views and opinions on the issue.

According to Dkhar, the ADCs – KHADC, JHADC and GHADC had already submitted their views on the proposed amendment of the Sixth Schedule to the Indian Constitution since 2013.

The exercise was done based on the letter of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) sent to the State government in 2012, to seek their (ADCs) views on the Draft of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution (proposed amendment) Bill 2012.

“This shows that the state government is not at all serious on the issue since it is yet to formulate its views on the matter. This also means that the matter is in limbo,” Dkhar opined.

Meanwhile, the opposition parties which include – UDP, NPP, HSPDP and KHNAM- have also decided to attend the upcoming meeting of all political parties convened by chief minister Mukul Sangma on January 20.

“We have decided to attend the proposed meeting on Tuesday, after the state government had finally supplied us with all the materials related to the subject matter on Friday,” Dkhar said.

Earlier, the opposition had demanded that the government officially provide its views as well as the views of the three ADCs on the issue relating to proposed amendment to the Sixth Schedule of the Indian constitution.

Informing that the parties have resolved to meet again on Monday, Dkhar said, “We will sit again since the views of certain key members (MDCs) are required to formulate our final stand or view on the subject which we are going to take up on Tuesday during the meeting to be convene by the CM.”

The government earlier in its letter of invitation issued on January 13, for the meeting which was slated to be held on January 16, had only stated that the discussion will be on the proposed amendment to the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution vis-à-vis Traditional Institutions in Meghalaya, Dkhar said.

However in the second notices it informed about the rescheduling of the said meeting to January 20 and  the government’s notice also said, “The meeting will now discuss the amendment proposed by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Sixth Schedule in pursuance of the Tripartite Memorandum of Settlement with ANVC and ANVC(B), relating to increase in the number of seats in the Autonomous District Councils and modalities for nomination of nominated members and any other related issues.”

“Whether the error is on the part of the state government or who, we don’t know,” he said while questioning why the government failed to issue a correct notice and all along had mislead the political parties.

The fresh notice clearly states that the issue to be discussed is mainly on the increase in the number of seats in the ADCs and modalities for nomination of nominated members besides the draft bill 2012 sent by the MHA.

Any other issues if the opposition want to discuss will depend on the decision of the chief minister who will be chairing the meeting, Dkhar said.- By Our Reporter