Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Central intervention sought for finance panel award to ADCs

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SHILLONG: There is a demand to include Autonomous District Councils  for annual  finance  award  by  Finance  Commission.
In a letter addressed to Union  Finance  Minister Arun Jaitley and copies sent  to other concerned ministers, P. B.  M.  Basaiawmoit, Consultant  to  North  East  Dialogue  Forum said that there is need  to amend article  280  to  the  Constitution  of  India  so  as to  include      Autonomous  District  Councils  for  annual  finance  award  by  Finance   Commission
At present there are 10 Autonomous  District  Councils   created  as  per  provisions  of  the  Sixth  Schedule to the Constitution (3 each in Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram and  one  in  Tripura)
Basaiawmoit  said that district councils in  Meghalaya  are  not   strong  in  view  of  provisions  in  para  12-A  (a) coupled   with  recent  rulings  and  strictures   by  the   Meghalaya  High  Court.
“And  to  make  matters  even  worse,   the councils do  not  have  financial  resources  to  run  the  administration  and  execute  decisions  for  promoting  and  empowering  tribals  and  their  institutions,  including  culture  and  traditions”, he said.
Basaiawmoit has urged Jaitley to include  the district councils  in  the  2016-17  budget  allocation  and  more  importantly,  to  include them in Article  280  along  with  panchayats  and  municipalities  for  permanent  and  regular finance  award  from  the  Finance  Commission.
“  This  will  do  justice  to  them and  corroborate  with  Article.  275  as  well  continue  with  the  spirit  of  the  Sixth  Schedule  as  envisaged  by  the  founding  fathers  of  India’s  Constitution  and  drafted  under  the  chairmanship  of late  Gopinath  Bordoloi”, he said.
The letter also referred to the decisions arrived  at the  meeting  of  ADCs  held  on May 27 and  28 last year at  Thadlaskein.
The  meeting adopted a resolution  to urge the Centre  to  bring  an  amendment  to  Article  280  “whereby  a  sub  clause  be  inserted  to  include  Autonomous  District  Councils  for  receiving  direct  funding  from  the  Consolidated  Fund  of   India  so as  to  support  programme  and  projects  undertaken  by  the  respective  Councils  including  administrative  expenses  for  running  the  legislative,  judicial  and  administrative  wings  of  the  Councils.

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