State delegation takes up 6th Schedule amendment with Parl panel
NEW DELHI/ SHILLONG: Despite the opposition from members of unrepresented tribes, an official delegation of the Meghalaya government reiterated the stand of the government regarding the removal of other tribes from the Councils when it met the Parliament Standing Committee of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
The delegation held a meeting with members of the Parliament Standing Committee of the Rajya Sabha here and discussed about amendment bill of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution concerning the District Councils.
The delegation told the committee on the stand of the government on the amendment bill. It also informed the committee on the need to remove the word ‘unrepresented tribes’ from the amendment bill in respect of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills region.
The three-member delegation comprising two additional chief secretaries — Hector Marwein and Rebecca Suchiang — and Commissioner and Secretary in-charge of District Council Affairs department Tining Dkhar also impressed upon the panel to remove the words ‘village council’ and ‘municipal council’ which have been included in the amendment bill.
“This should not apply to the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) except to the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC)”, the delegation told the panel.
During the meeting, the Meghalaya government officials also submitted the recommendations on the amendment bill.
Recently, the committee headed by District Council Affairs Minister James Sangma had decided to submit the recommendations for deletion of the word ‘unrepresented tribes’ from the amendment bill.
There was also a demand that the number of seats in the KHADC should be made to 31. This will be an increase by one seat with 29 elected members to the KHADC and two nominated members including a woman.
Earlier, the draft amendment had proposed that there should be 40 seats in both KHADC and GHADC as against the current 30 seats.
Out of the 40 seats, four will be nominated members, including two women.
In the case of JHADC, the proposal was to increase the seats from the current 30 to 34, of which four should be nominated members, including two women.
Another proposal was to nominate unrepresented tribes in the councils but there was opposition from several quarters.