Ex-ANVC-B chief supports guv’s stand on ADCs

SHILLONG: Achik Matgrik Kotok chairman and former ANVC-B chairman Bernard Marak on Saturday supported state governor Tathagata Roy’s stand that the state government should not interfere in district council affairs.
Marak said that district councils are autonomous institutions and are above the state in terms of tribal affairs.
ADCs were constituted to act independently to safeguard the interest of the tribals and definitely there is no provision in the Constitution which permitted interference by political leaders, he pointed out.
In the past, political leaders affiliated the members of ADCs into their parties and councils became dummy institutions which could not make independent decisions. When the state of Meghalaya was constituted, things became worse especially in Garo Hills.
“The GHADC under the influence of political bosses introduced unconstitutional provisions to facilitate their vote banks. In Garo Hills, the GHADC changed the hill provisions to non hill provisions to introduce municipalities and to lease pattas against ‘laws of the land’,’ he said.
The tribals, in spite of having the GHADC did not get protection in matters of land and livelihood and the monopoly of essential commodities is prevalent with supply licenses issued by the council to single individual per district.
“The price hike and inferior quality of goods is the daily hustle in Garo Hills. Political leaders have turned the ADCs into a political institution and inclusion of anti defection law was also demanded. But little did they know how can anti defection be applicable when there is no provision for opposition leader in the ADCs. ADCs are not political but a tribal institution which was solely constituted to safeguard the interests of the tribals. The political influence of the state leaders has been the root cause of weakening the ADCs in the state especially in Garo Hills,” Marak said.