UDP pleads political parties to file review petitions
SHILLONG: The UDP, while criticizing the High Court order asking the State government to frame a legislation to empower headmen, has urged the government to refrain from creating any unconstitutional precedent after having withdrawn the Ordinance on Village Administration Bill.
In a statement issued here on Thursday, UDP working president Bindo Lanong also called upon all concerned political parties and the traditional bodies to oppose the irrelevant portions of the High Court ) order by filing revision appeals.
“The order of the Meghalaya High Court on 13.01.2016 in respect of the Constitution of traditional Village Durbars and their powers has come as a rude shock to the people of Meghalaya, since never in the history of the composite Gauhati High Court, had such orders, concerning the socio-cultural and traditional institutions of the tribal people were ever issued”, said the former deputy chief minister in charge Law.
According to Lanong, while the validity of judicial orders on disputed cases should be duly respected, “on the hand judiciary has no power on principle, to intrude outside its jurisdiction, by imposing upon recognized statutory bodies like the District Councils and the other subordinate traditional institutions, with foreign orders not compatible with their cultural life and practices, except those in conflict with the law”.
Lanong, who is also a lawyer and a former KHADC MDC, said traditional Institutions in Meghalaya and in the other Northeastern states are the exclusive subjects of the Autonomous District Councils under the Constitution of India, “therefore, any attempt by the State governments to circumvent the Constitution, either under paragraph 12A or the Seventh Schedule, will tantamount to arbitrary encroachment into the legislative competency of the ADCs”.