SHILLONG, FEB 17: The North East Dialogue Forum (NEDF) has urged the centre to amend Article 280 to the Constitution of India to include the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) in Meghalaya for annual finance award by the Finance Commission.
In a letter submitted to the union finance minister Arun Jaitley, NEDF consultant Rev PBM Basaiawmoit said, “We urged the centre to include the ADCs in Art 280 along with panchayats and municipalities for permanent and regular finance award from the Finance Commission.”
“For the upliftment of tribals, we also urged you to include the ADCs in the 2016-2017 budget allocation,” he said.
According to him, this will do justice to them and corroborate with Article 275 as well as continue with the spirit of the Sixth Schedule as envisaged by the founding fathers of India’s Constitution and drafted under the chairmanship of (L) Gopinath Bordoloi, former chief minister of composite Assam.
Basaiawmoit also pointed there are 10 Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) created as per provisions of the Sixth Schedule which include 3 in Assam, as per para 12; 3 in Meghalaya as per para 12-A; 3 in Mizoram as per para 12-B and; one in Tripura as per para 12-AA.
“You would find that paras 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 9, 10, 11 are quite exhaustive though ADCs in the state of Meghalaya are not that strong in view of provisions in para 12-A (a) and with recent rulings and strictures made by the Meghalaya High Court, the mentioned ADCs are caught in a quandary,” he said.
He also said, “And to make matters even worse the ADCs do not have financial resources to run the administration and execute decisions for promoting and empowering tribals and their institutions, including culture and traditions.”
He said by not being includng in Art 280 and marginalised in Art 275, such ADCs cannot carry out the mandate given in the Sixth Schedule as per paras mentioned above.-By Our Reporter
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