SHILLONG: The district councils of Jaintia and Garo Hills have supported the lineage bill and concurred that they were on the same page on this issue.
The chief executive members of Jaintia and Garo Hills autonomous district councils were in the city on Thursday to meet Chief Minister Conrad Sangma. They informed that the Jaintia Hills council “is on the process to pass a bill similar to the Khasi Lineage Bill of the KHADC” that proposes to strip women of their tribal status upon marriage to a man outside the community. The councils also want to debar constitutional rights of children born out of the wedlock between a tribal woman and an outsider.
KHADC chief HS Shylla said the GHADC Codification of Garo Customary Law Bill, 2009, passed on March 29 last year, will be discussed in a review meeting.
Shylla, who stirred controversy by passing the Khasi Hills Autonomous District (Khasi Social Custom of Lineage) (Second Amendment) Bill 2018, recollected that former chief minister Mukul Sangma had returned the Garo codification bill, ‘which was illegal”.
“The chief minister cannot do that. It is the governor who will return the bill and not the chief minister,” he said.
“The bill was passed but the state government did not forward to the governor but returned to the district councils. The bill also contains a clause which bars Garo women from marrying a non-tribal,” said GHADC chief Dipul Marak.
During their meeting with Conrad, the chief executive members asked for a larger share of royalty on major minerals.
Shylla told reporters that the delegation submitted the High Court ruling of 1993 to the chief minister. The order said the share of royalty should be 60:40 where district councils should get 60 per cent.
“As of now, the share is 25 per cent for district councils and 75 per cent for the government,” he said and added the chief minister would look into the matter.
Shylla also stressed the need for a thorough review of the functioning of the district councils and their relationship with the state government. He added that pending bills of the ADCs will be discussed in the review meeting.
“The chief minister has agreed to have a meeting after the Assembly session is over,” he added.
GHADC pending salary
The chief of the Garo Hills autonomous council apprised Conrad of the financial situation of the GHADC and the latter assured that he would look into it the matter.
When asked, Marak said, “Pending dues of salaries of the GHADC staff, including the CEM, is around Rs 80 crore for the last 17 months.”
There are more than 2,000 employees in the GHADC and… this is the main factor why we could not clear our salaries.”
When asked whether there is any plan to reduce the strength of the staff, he said, “After we sit with the state government and what the state government suggests, we will follow it up.”
Asked on the strength of the staff, the other CEMs of JHADC and KHADC said the strength of their staff is 1,700 and less than 700, respectively.
Asked on how the non-tribals are allowed in the GHADC, Marak said, “At present, I cannot say anything about that because it will be after the amendment of the Sixth Schedule.”