SHILLONG: The government has prepared its replies to 15 questions which were sent by the Ministry of Home Affairs pertaining to the amendments to the Sixth Schedule.
Informing this here on Friday, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said the state government committee headed by the District Council Affairs Minister, James Sangma, has done a detailed discussion with the stakeholders on the matter.
The exercise was to take up the matter at the level of the Parliamentary standing committee.
Conrad recalled his recent meeting with the Union Home Minister and said he had briefed him about the concerns of the state pertaining to the amendment Bill.
Conrad added that the questionnaires given by the MHA were discussed in the state cabinet on Friday.
“The replies to these questionnaires have been prepared and we will send them to the MHA,” he said.
Refusing to divulge the details of the questions, the chief minister said the questions are about the observations of the government on the aspects of anti defection law, issue of district planning and government’s views on the amendment.
The MHA also asked the government its views on renaming the District Councils in the state.
All STs allowed
to contest polls
Reacting to a query if the matter pertaining to unrepresented tribe was also part of the questionnaire, he added that since all the Scheduled Tribes are allowed to contest elections, the government is of the view that the word unrepresented tribe need not be included.
Earlier, the sub-committee constituted by the state government to look into various concerns expressed in connection with the proposed amendment to the Sixth Schedule had decided to recommend to the standing committee of the Parliament for the removal of the word unrepresented tribe from the amendment to the Sixth Schedule that seeks to nominate unrepresented tribes in the Autonomous District Councils.
