Over Rs 103 crore spent for the upkeep of the three ADCs during financial year 2014-15
SHILLONG: RTI activist Michael Syiem, who has filed a petition before the High Court of Meghalaya praying for abolition of the autonomous district councils in the state, has said that the term “Jaitbynriew” is being grossly misused for scoring political points.
Speaking to media persons here on Tuesday, Syiem said that there are too many authorities in the State, all claiming to protect the interests of the local people, creating a mess in the process.
“This petition (PIL) has been filed to provoke a debate on, which institutions are relevant, and which are not,” he said.
“People usually get confused when two constitutional bodies of State and Autonomous District Councils confront each other on the same subject,” he said while pointing out that now the KHADC was legalizing another institution, “Federation of Traditional Dorbar”, to look after the traditions and culture of the Khasis.
“If Autonomous District Councils are relevant, then the State Government should define their powers,” he added.
He also said that after statehood, the powers of Autonomous District councils have been taken over by the Government as far as primary education, land, inheritance of property, marriage and forest are concerned.
Meanwhile, he pointed out that it was the JHADC which issued NOCs to cement plants to be setup in the forest areas.
While stating that the first priority of the 6th Schedule to the Indian Constitution is protection of land, he lamented that every year people lose land to outside forces not in thousands of square feet but thousands of acres since many private universities, schools and industries are coming up. He also pointed out that Nongtrai in East Khasi Hills has been mortgaged to an international bank and it was the KHADC which issued NOC to UCIL to extract uranium from the State.
He also made a revelation that JJM Nichols Roy, the architect of district council autonomy, followed the patrilineal system and so did his son.
High maintenance
Meanwhile, Syiem also revealed that the total expenditure for the upkeep of three autonomous district councils –KHADC, JHADC and GHADC– in the financial year 2014-2015 was over Rs 103 crore (Rs 103,54,72,727).
RTI findings released to the media by Syiem on Tuesday revealed that in the year 2014-2015 , an amount of over Rs 4 crore (Rs 4,86,62,632) was spent on the 90 MDCs of the three autonomous district councils with the most being spent on the MDCs of KHADC (Rs 2,26,35,742).
Similarly, an amount of over Rs 93 crore (Rs 93,63,39,618) was spent on the salary of the staff of three autonomous district councils in the year 2014-2015.
According to the RTI findings, even in the year 2013-2014, a total amount of over Rs 103 crore (Rs 103,59,38,792) was spent on the three autonomous District councils with an amount of over Rs 4 crore (Rs 4,80,74,520) spent on expenditures relating to establishment cost.
In the year 2013-2014 too, Rs 4,83,27,239 was spent on the salary of the MDCs besides Rs 34,46 ,823 was spent on the purchase of vehicles and their maintenance.
In the year 2012-2013, an amount of Rs 80,89,92,273 was spent on the three autonomous district councils.
The statistics also revealed that a whopping Rs 1,53,08,600 was spent on maintenance of building and electricity bills even though no new buildings have come up anywhere.
Syiem went on to say that the autonomous district councils were used for the convenience of political parties which offered party tickets for ADC polls to those who miss out in candidates’ race in the Assembly elections.
It may be mentioned that Syiem has filed a petition before the High Court praying for abolishing of district councils. The plea however has not been admitted and the High Court is waiting for the affidavit to be filed in this regard by the Central Government.