By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Declaring the KHADC Delimitation Bill which was tabled without the mandatory approval of the governor null and void, the State Government has directed the three Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) to carry out a fresh exercise for delimitation of their constituencies.
Moreover, the Government asserted that there is no constitutional provision for the formation of a Delimitation Commission to realign the district council constituencies.
“I have told the three Councils to obtain prior approval from the Governor before tabling any bill from now,” said District Council Affairs Minister HDR Lyngdoh said after his meeting with the CEMs of the three district councils here on Thursday.
He said the councils in the past overlooked the provision of the Sixth Schedule “which clearly says that the Councils would need to seek prior approval of the Governor before tabling any Bill.”
“So the Bill passed by the KHADC for delimiting the Council constituencies has become null and void. The KHADC would have to start the whole exercise afresh,” Lyngdoh said.
The Minister said the three councils have been asked to submit to the Government their proposal for seeking prior approval from the Governor.
“If necessary, the Government would give its comment on the proposal before forwarding it to the Governor,” he said.
While asserting that the Government would like to see that the process of delimitation of the constituencies was completed before the Council elections, Lyngdoh, however, said for this the three ADCs would have to speed up the process.
“The final call on delimitation should be taken by the councils. The State Government does not want to impose anything,” the Minister said. When asked on the proposal to constitute a delimitation commission, he said that there was no provision in the Sixth Schedule for constitution of such commission. “The delimitation exercise would have to be carried out by the ADCs,” Lyngdoh said. When asked if there are specific guidelines and procedures for carrying out the exercise to delimitate the constituencies, he said that even though there was a mention about the delimitation of constituencies, nothing was mentioned about the process which needed to be followed by the Councils while delimiting the constituencies. “This is a major lacuna. But we cannot do anything,” the Minister said.
