Apex court gives National Commission for ST 8-week time
From CK Nayak
New Delhi: In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Monday directed the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes to verify and dispose off the case related to the ST status of Meghalaya Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma within eight weeks.
A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam, while hearing a PIL challenging the ST status of Dr Sangma, refused to go into the issue and said that the matter be decided by the Commission.
The apex court asked the commission to look into the complaint and take a decision within eight weeks on ‘merit’, Ranjan Mukheerjee, state’s senior counsel told The Shillong Times after the hearing.
The bench was hearing a PIL filed by All Northeast Indigenous Garo Law Promoters Association and one Tennydard M Marak seeking its direction to hold inquiry into the ST status of Sangma and cancellation of the certificate issued to him on June 23, 1982.The apex court combined both the petitions and took for hearing.
The association in its petition alleged that the Chief Minister does not belong to the ‘Sangma’ clan, and that he had used his surname only to obtain a Scheduled Tribe certificate.
The NGO moved the apex court after its similar plea was rejected by the Meghalaya High Court on October 7 last year.
Dr Sangma, who is in his second term as chief minister, is a five-time legislator who won from Ampatigiri assembly constituency in South West Garo Hills in 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013.