Our Bureau
SHILLONG/JOWAI, March 3: The Jaintia Hills-based Joint Coordination Committee on Reservation Policy (JCCRP) has strongly rejected the findings of the Expert Committee on the Meghalaya State Reservation Policy and reiterated its long-standing demand for an equitable division of Meghalaya’s existing 80 per cent job reservation among the Khasi, Jaintia, and Garo communities.
In statements released following a key consultative meeting held on Monday, the JCCRP said the deliberations brought together its affiliated organisations, prominent scholars, intellectuals, and representatives from the Jaintia Hills region.
Participants unanimously resolved to pursue what the committee described as a constitutionally justified and rightful share for the people of Jaintia Hills, grounded in the provisions of the Constitution of India.
The JCCRP emphasised that the reservation policy framework must align with the constitutional recognition of the state’s three Autonomous District Councils.
Any deviation from this tripartite structure, the group argued, would undermine the principle of balanced representation central to Meghalaya’s administrative design.
To ensure decisions are fair, data-driven, and reflective of current realities, the JCCRP urged the MDA government to immediately commission a comprehensive socio-economic survey across all three ADC areas.
Such a survey, it maintained, would provide verifiable demographic, economic, and other indicators necessary for achieving proportional equity among the communities.
The committee’s stance comes amid ongoing debates over Meghalaya’s decades-old reservation policy, with the JCCRP positioning its demand as essential for justice and constitutional harmony in job opportunities across the state.
