SHILLONG: The Chairman of Forum of Councils under the Sixth Schedule (FOCUSS), PN Syiem, has petitioned the Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee (Rajya Sabha) on Home Affairs, Anand Sharma, suggesting him to convene a consultative meeting of all the 300 elected/nominated members of all 10 Councils under the Sixth Schedule to give them the opportunity to express their views and proposals.
In the letter to Sharma, Syiem expressed his resentment for not being directly consulted and not given ample time in the matter of the proposed l25th Constitution Amendment Bill 2019 as the Autonomous District Councils are the main stakeholders of the Sixth Schedule under Article 244 (2) of the Constitution.
FOCUSS has urged upon the Parliamentary Standing Committee to extend the time for submission of the report to the Rajya Sabha as it is currently working on a joint proposal on the proposed Amendment of the Sixth Schedule.
Syiem told The Shillong Times that a FOCUSS delegation had met the Joint Secretary of the Home Ministry, S. Garg, with a similar appeal as made to Sharma.
Syiem said that he spoke about the decision of the all MDCs meeting which decided to have the number of MDCs to not be more than 31 – 29 elected and 2 nominated MDCs including a female.
He informed that the Parliamentary Standing Committee will visit Guwahati and Shillong to get the views of the MDCs and other organisations.
Time given till December
“The parliamentary Standing Committee has decided to permit the Councils to submit their views/suggestions by the second week of December 2019”, Syiem said.
