By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Aug 27: Leader of Opposition (LO), Ronnie V. Lyngdoh on Sunday suggested the need to rope in members from the Khasi-Jaintia and Garo communities in the expert committee to review the job reservation policy of 1972.
Speaking to The Shillong Times, Lyngdoh said representation from the three tribes in the expert committee is critical to addressing all concerns pertaining to the job quota policy.
“We will take up the matter with the government,” he said.
Meanwhile, the LO said the constitution of the expert committee by the Cabinet only shows that the demands of the people have started bearing fruits.
Lyngdoh hoped that the committee will carry forward the aspiration and expectation of the people on this critical issue.
Admitting that he did not know the names of the members of the expert committee, he said, “I believe that the government has chosen the best people to tackle this very important issue.”
Exactly 75 days after bowing down to surmounting pressure from all corners and announcing that an expert committee would be constituted to review the Meghalaya State Reservation Policy of 1972, the state Cabinet on Friday finally approved the names for constitution of the five-member expert panel.
The names were shortlisted by the three-member search committee headed by Chief Secretary DP Wahlang.
MDA spokesperson Ampareen Lyngdoh said the expert committee will be headed by Justice (retd) Mool Chand Garg, former Judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, as Chairman.
Justice (retd) Dr. Satish Chandra, former Judge of the Allahabad High Court, will be the expert member in Constitutional Law; Prof. DV Kumar, of the Department of Sociology, NEHU, will be the expert member in Sociology; Prof. Chander Shekhar, Department of Fertility and Social Demography, Indian Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai, will be expert member in Population Studies while Prof. Subhadip Mukherjee, Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Policy at IIM Shillong, will be the expert member in Economics.
Defending the move to not include even a single indigenous person as member of the expert committee, Lyngdoh said it was done to eliminate any bias.