By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Contradicting the statement of District Council Affairs (DCA) Minister HDR Lyngdoh, UDP working president Bindo Mathew Lanong said that there are provisions in the Sixth Schedule for constitution of the Delimitation Commission (DC) to delimitate the Council constituencies.
“As far I could recall, the KHADC had issued an Executive Order which was endorsed by the DCA in 1978 to constitute the Delimitation Commission to partially delimitate the Council constituencies,” Lanong said here on Sunday.
He said that he is not very sure whether any such Commission was constituted before delimitation of the constituencies in 1983-1984, the last time such an exercise was undertaken.
Earlier, the DCA Minister had 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 had said.
Meanwhile, Lanong also said that the tenure of the Council cannot be extended at any cost as claimed by the State Government.
“Neither the Parliament, President or the Governor are empowered to extend the tenure of the Council,” the UDP working president said.
He said that the only time the tenure of the Council was extended was in 1977 during the proclamation of national emergency, a condition under which it can be extended.
Earlier, it was reported that the State Government is likely to advise Governor Dr KK Paul to consider the option for extension of the tenure of the three Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) in the State to complete the process of delimitation of the constituencies.