By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Dec 3: The Opposition UDP in the KHADC has questioned the suggestion of the state government to amend the KHAD (Khasi Social Custom of Lineage) Act, 1997, instead of pushing for the KHAD (Khasi Social Custom of Clan Administration) Bill, 2022, which was already passed by the council.
Opposition leader Titosstarwell Chyne wondered why such an observation was not made when the council had come up with the clan bill.
“This is not a new bill since it had gone to the Governor for approval after it was passed by the House,” he told The Shillong Times on Sunday.
He said he was surprised by the decision of the NPP-led Executive Committee (EC) to recall the clan bill as the Governor had not returned it to the council.
“Instead of recalling the bill, we should have rectified or incorporated the observations made by the expert committee constituted by the state government to review the bills passed by the council,” Chyne said.
He also said that the special committee constituted by the EC to re-examine the clan bill is yet to be convened. “I am not sure why the meeting is yet to be convened. Maybe, they are too busy with other things,” he added.
The special committee would need to either fine-tune and rectify the defects of the KHAD (Khasi Social Custom of Clan Administration) Bill, 2022 or amend the KHAD (Khasi Social Custom of Lineage) Act, 1997, as suggested by the government.
Deputy Chief Executive Member Pynshngainlang N. Syiem, who heads the special committee, had said the state government suggested the amendment of the KHAD (Khasi Social Custom of Lineage) Act, 1997, making a separate bill redundant.
The special committee would submit the report to the EC to take a final call, he said.
The members of the special committee include senior MDC Bindo Lanong and Chyne.
Earlier, Chief Executive Member Pyniaid Sing Syiem stated that the current EC is determined to approve the bill in the next session. The KHADC had unanimously decided to recall the bill during the two-day special session of the council in September.
The clan bill was previously returned by the state government due to its inconsistency with the KHAD (Khasi Social Custom of Lineage) Act of 1997.
The Deputy CEM stated that the government had contacted the KHADC for clarity as the term “clan” appears in both the Lineage Act and the Clan Bill.
The CEM said the Law Department had underlined the conflict between the bill and the Act. “After properly going through the bill, we also noticed this conflict. It is for this reason we decided to refer the matter to the advisory committee,” he said.