SHILLONG, May 19: Decks have been cleared for direct central funding to the Dorbar Shnong with Governor Satya Pal Malik giving his assent to the Khasi Hills Autonomous District (Village and Town Development Council) Act, 2021. The direct funding will be enabled through creation of village and town development councils.
Revealing the development on Thursday, KHADC Executive Member in-charge Elaka, Jambor War said, “The Governor had given his assent to the bill recently. We will now need to come up with the rules for implementation of this important legislation.”
The Village and Town Development Council Act, 2021 seeks to deal with the welfare and socio-economic development of the towns/villages under the administrative control of the traditional bodies.
The bill was unanimously passed by the KHADC in November last year.
The Act will pave the way for creation of the Village Development Council (VDC) and the Town Development Council (TDC) which will be responsible for overseeing development works in villages and urban localities, respectively through constitution of a village or town development fund.
“The Executive Committee of the KHADC, within the limit of its economic capability and subject to availability of funds, shall earmark a portion of its annual budget to the VDC and TDC for the purpose of supporting the implementation of schemes and projects approved under the Act,” the Act states.
The Act further states: “All funds, grants and other forms of monetary or financial assistance received from any source for the purpose of achieving the objects of this Act shall be treated part of the District Fund and shall be subjected to audit as per provisions of paragraph 7 of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. “The VDC and TDC shall be under the general control and supervision of the Dorbar Shnong and it shall be accountable to the Dorbar Shnong. It shall consist of all adult residents of the Council and they shall form the General Council.”
According to the Act, in any area where there is no traditional Dorbar Shnong, the Executive Committee of the KHADC after consultation with the Chief and his Dorbar shall constitute the VDC in the village or TDC in the town.
The term of the members of the VDC and TDC shall be for five years, the Act states.
As per the Act, the VDC and TDC shall have the power and shall be responsible in matters such as participatory developmental planning and implementation, collection of data and preparation of reports on the village or town and shall prepare resource maps of the village and town.
The Act states that they shall formulate village and town annual plans, perspective plans and strategy for implementation and they will also be responsible for implementation of the developmental programmes and schemes within the village.
The Act further states the election of the Executive Member and member of the Executive Council in the VDC and TDC shall be conducted by the KHADC Executive Committee after consultation with the headman and Executive Dorbar.
According to the Act, the election shall be done through a secret ballot and based on simple majority.
“The headman (Rangbah Shnong) shall be ex-officio chairman, hence no election shall be held for the post of chairman. In any area where there is no Dorbar Shnong, election of the chairman will be conducted,” the Act states.
