SHILLONG: The process of issuance of scheduled tribe certificates is long-drawn and cumbersome in the state and most of the officials concerned are unaware of the rules, the opposition Congress said in the Assembly on Monday.
Congress MLA Ampareen Lyngdoh moved a motion on the administrative centre of the Scheduled Tribe disbursing office. She pointed out that Mizoram has 94 per cent of tribal population while Meghalaya has 86.1 per cent.
While flagging the problem of several applicants who had a harrowing time in obtaining the certificate from the clan head (Rangbah Kur), Lyngdoh gave the example that when a mother’s surname is ‘Sooting’, her children have to correct the surname to ‘Suting’ when they apply for ST certificate. In this context the mother has to change the title. She urged that the government has to look into the change in spellings of clan names. Lyngdoh pointed out the problems faced by people of mixed parentage and single mothers in getting certificates.
Congress MLA PT Sawkmie said a married couple, a Garo man and a Khasi woman, have not got ST certificates in the last seven years. He drew the attention of the House to the problem faced by students due to the delayed process.
Another Congress MLA Charles Pyngrope, who is of mixed parentage, recalled an interaction in 2003 with the then deputy commissioner who could not provide a clear answer on the criteria to obtain ST certificate.
He also spoke about the “Tang jait” ceremony which is a process when a Khasi male marries a non-tribal as the offspring cannot take the father’s title.
Pyngrope referred to the Supreme Court ruling that states that when either of the parents is a tribal, the offspring is qualified as a tribal. “There is confusion as officers are not aware of the rules… clear cut rules should be put in place,” he added.
To these problems raised by the opposition bench, Social Welfare Minister Kyrmen Shylla said the East Khasi Hills District application for ST certificate is available online.
“The application forms have been standardized and the same format is seen online whenever the applicant visits the website megedistrict.gov.in… Once documents have been uploaded, the applicant will get a message on his/her cellphone informing them that application has been successfully submitted along with the reference number of the application,” Shylla said.
He added after the verification report, the applicant is asked to appear with original documents on a fixed date and time and information goes to the applicant in the form of SMS giving them information about date, time when they have to appear and the room number.
After the reply, Lyngdoh said SMS is not reliable to reach out but that the department should call them and minimize the waiting period.
She also said codification of laws is necessary and asked the minister to look into the matter so that there will be no problem in the spelling of clan names as well.