SHILLONG, Sep 10: A day after Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma allayed the fears of the Autonomous District Councils (ADC) over the purported implications of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) 1973 and Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) 1908, implementation, KHADC Chief Executive Member (CEM) Titosstarwell Chyne, on Saturday, said that the final call on reconsideration of their stand on the issue will be taken on Monday.
“I have seen the statement given by the Chief Minister and we will again have a meeting on Monday with senior leaders and legal team of the district council,” said Chyne.
He said, “We will examine the matter and if it is as stated by the Chief Minister then we will reconsider our stand but that we will take a final call on Monday.”
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma had on Friday assured the ADCs that the notification on CrPC and CPC will not encroach or interfere with the functioning of their courts.
There is no question of taking away or diluting the powers of the ADC courts, the KHADC CEM said in reply to a question with regard to the apprehensions of the district councils.
The CEM said that there was no clarity in the notification. “There was no clarity at all because the notification stated that it will be implemented in the whole state of Meghalaya in all courts of Meghalaya and did not tell anything about excluding the court created under the Sixth Schedule.”
The KHADC and the Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) have opposed the state government’s decision to extend the CrPC and CPC to the tribal areas of the state as according to them this would “dilute the powers of the district council courts”.
Trying to clarify the apprehensions, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had earlier stated that that the decision of the government to come out with this notification was purely to complete the process of segregating the judiciary from the executive.
He said that said the in-charge of the ADC judiciary used to act as the judge in a district court when there was no segregation.
The powers of the ADC judiciary were derived from a 1937 law that said a deputy commissioner will act as a judge, he added.
The ADC judiciary ceased to exist after the segregation of the judiciary from the executive, Sangma explained.
“The notification was necessary to allow the judicial magistrates we have today to continue what the ADC judiciary was doing,” he said, adding that this was the sole purpose of the notification.
“It in no way impacts the functioning of the district councils and is not going to take their power,” Sangma had said.
