VAB stalemate
SHILLONG: Under pressure from headmen who have planned a massive rally on October 30, the state government on Monday de-notified the DD Lapang committee on traditional institutions and decided to form a delegation comprising representatives of headmen and the government to meet the Union Home Minister for the approval of the Village Administration Bill (VAB) pending with the Meghalaya Governor.
Chief Minister Mukul Sangma made this announcement after the meeting of the Congress-coordination committee chaired by the AICC leader V. Narayanasamy on Monday.
On Sunday, a group of headmen had met the AICC leader and apprised him about the need to implement VAB.
Earlier, several headmen had come out of the committee led by Lapang which was formed to institutionalize the traditional bodies as they wanted only the implementation of VAB and no other Bills and mechanisms.
The Chief Minister also indicated that the government would not pursue the earlier plan to have another Bill to empower the traditional bodies as the current priority of the government is to ensure that the VAB gets the assent of the Governor. “While we cannot infringe up on the authority of the Governor, a delegation of headmen and the government will meet the Union Home Minister and MHA functionaries to ensure that the Bill is approved at the earliest”, Sangma said.
The Chief Minister said that the decision of the government will be conveyed to the association of headmen.
Earlier, the state government had brought an Ordinance to empower headmen, which, however, was rejected by the traditional bodies. Later, the attempt to frame another Bill by the state government to empower the traditional bodies, also faced the similar fate.
The headmen and other traditional heads had reiterated the need to implement VAB, and hence they came out of the Lapang panel formed on March 3 to institutionalize the traditional bodies. Though the Lapang panel had a few sittings and formed sub- committees, with the decision of the government to de-notify the main committee, the focus of the government now is only on VAB. The Chief Minister, however, reminded that it was the president of the association of headmen, Werlok Kharshiing who had proposed the name of Lapang to head the committee to empower and institutionalize the traditional bodies.