Mukul calls it ‘productive’ initiative to empower traditional heads
on Wednesday. (MIPR)
SHILLONG: The all-party meeting convened by the State Government to discuss on the proposed draft Bill on empowerment of the traditional heads on Wednesday remained inconclusive as all the Opposition parties except one skipped the meeting.
Except HSPDP, other Opposition parties — UDP, KHNAM, NPP and BJP – failed to make it to the meeting.
Despite majority of the political parties abstaining from the meeting, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma later claimed that the meeting was a productive one.
“To ensure a broader consultation, we have decided to circulate the minutes and copy of the draft Bill to all the political parties. We will deliberate on the matter in near future,” the Chief Minister.
“Since the Government has taken the call to allow the Ordinance to lapse, the Government is holding this consultation with the objective to come up with the new legislative measure to empower the traditional bodies and Rangbah Shnong in matters of governance,” Sangma said.
“After ordinance was promulgated, divergent views had emerged. Therefore, we felt the need to involve all political parties to have a broader consensus on this very crucial matter,” Sangma said.
While replying to a query on the ongoing cold war between KHADC and Government on the issue, the Chief Minister said that it is a matter of interpretation since the legislature can always enact a law on any matter.
“Both the State Government and Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) can mutually decide what needs to be done,” he said adding that through consultation government would try to bridge the gap.
Meanwhile, participating in the meeting Opposition HSPDP hailed the draft Bill, while NCP, which is an ally of the Congress-led MUA Government, stressed on the need to have more consultation by involving the stakeholders before taking the final call.
The HSPDP leader Witting Mawsor said that the party has nothing to oppose on the Bill.
On the other hand, NCP president Sanbor Shullai said that the party impressed upon the State Government on the need to hold a consultations with the stakeholders before taking the final call on the draft bill.
“We feel that there are provisions in the draft bill which might clash with the Village Administration Bill (VAB) of the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs). The party’s legal cell will look into the details on the provisions of the draft Bill and VAB to come up with some concrete suggestions on this matter,” Shullai said.
When asked on the stand of the party on the draft Bill, he said that this is just the beginning.
The State Government’s Chief Adviser and MPCC president DD Lapang said that the State Government had taken a right decision by bringing the ordinance in order to provide a relief to the Rangbah Shnong following the ruling of the High Court.
“Following opposition to the ordinance, the Government then decided to bring this draft bill to address the problem. The Government also wanted to hold a consultation with the political parties before arriving to any kind of decision. I think this is a right step taken by Government,” Lapang said.
All the Cabinet Ministers and senior government officials except Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Zenith M Sangma attended Wednesday’s meeting.