Assam-Meghalaya Autonomous District Council Rules, 1951
SHILLONG: The Congress-led opposition in KHADC had demanded an amendment of the Assam-Meghalaya Autonomous District Council Rules, 1951, to remove a few “glaring flaws.”
Moving the motion on the need to amend the existing rules on the second day of the budget session of the Council, Congress MDC from Mawphlang-Diengiei Lamphrang Blah said that there was need to amend the existing rules. “It is really a shame that we have not yet been able to formulate our district rules even after so many years,” he said.
“We need to incorporate a new provision to clearly specify the people who are eligible to vote in the election to the KHADC. At the moment, many tribes other than the Khasis are able to vote in the election. But if other tribes are allowed to vote, it defeats the very spirit of setting up this Council which is meant to protect the interest of the Khasi tribes,” he said.
“We need to amend by removing the word Assam from the existing rules and renaming it as Meghalaya Autonomous District Council Rules,” Blah said. This would set an example to other district councils in the State to amend the existing rules.
Supporting the motion, Mawkynrew Congress MDC Banteidor Lyngdoh urged the Council to consider that the oath taking ceremony of newly elected members to the KHADC in the future should be in Khasi and not in English as done earlier.
“The district council is an institution which is responsible to protect and preserve our traditional culture and practices. But it is really sad that we are still taking an oath in English,” Lyngdoh said.
He suggested that the convention of the oath of the MDCs being administered by the East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner had to change.
“I am of the view that the oath of the newly elected MDCs should be administered either by the Chief Justice of the High Court or the Governor, which is already mentioned in the existing rules,” Lyngdoh said.
KHNAM MDC PT Sawkmie said that the existing rules needed to be improved.
It was surprising that a mover of a zero hour notice could not initiate discussion in the Council. It was really confusing that one person would move the zero hour notice and another person would initiate the discussion in the Council.
“Such kind of practice is not followed in the Assembly. The move of any zero hour notice himself initiates the discussion in the Assembly. This kind of lapses needs to be rectified,” Sawkmie said.
In her reply, Executive Member in charge of Law Rona Khymdeit said that the previous EC had set up a committee in August 2013 to examine on the possibilities of amending the existing rules.
‘In fact, the committee had submitted its recommendations to the previous EC. The previous EC could not take any decision since their term came to an end,” Khymdeit said.
She said the present EC would re-examine the recommendations of the committee.