SHILLONG, May 28: Senior BJP leader and Tura MDC, Bernard N Marak, has asked the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) to take over the issuance of Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificates and birth and death certificates to residents of Garo Hills.
In a letter to the GHADC Secretary, Marak emphasised that the Deputy Commissioner should not issue these documents.
Marak highlighted the long-standing issue faced by residents of Garo Hills, who have been compelled to use caste certificates as Scheduled Tribe certificates. “For many years, the residents of Garo Hills were forced to use the caste certificate as a ST certificate,” he stated.
He argued that this practice dilutes the identities of the Garo people, noting that caste certificates should only be issued by the Deputy Commissioner in areas without Autonomous District Councils (ADCs).
“In Garo Hills, a Sixth Schedule area, the Deputy Commissioner issues the Scheduled Caste certificate even to the Scheduled Tribes, thus diluting the identities of the Hill Tribals,” Marak explained. He insisted that the Deputy Commissioner lacks the authority to issue documents to Scheduled Tribes in a Sixth Schedule area.
“The ADC is the authority to issue all documents to the residents of Garo Hills. Therefore, you are requested to issue the Scheduled Tribe Certificate through GHADC, thus upholding the constitutional rights reserved for the Hill Tribals – the Garos,” Marak urged.
Additionally, Marak called for the GHADC to handle the registration of births and deaths, rather than the state government. He pointed out that primary health centres in Sixth Schedule areas were originally under the GHADC and were never officially transferred to the state government. He emphasised that agreements sanctioning upgrades for civil hospitals, the medical college, the child and maternity hospital, and wellness centres were made under the Sixth Schedule’s purview.
