Shillong, Aug 24: The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) has refused to accept the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on Home Affairs regarding certain proposals to amend the sixth schedule to the constitution.
This was decided in a meeting of all the members of the district council convened by the KHADC chief executive member Titosstarwell Chyne on Tuesday.
The meeting discussed the recommendations to increase the number of seats to 40, representation of the unrepresented tribes in the autonomous district councils (ADCs), introduction of the village council/municipal council and to have a system like the Panchayat.
“We have made it very clear that if the number of seats is increased to 40, it will affect the functioning of the council due to geographical conditions as well as financially keeping in mind its limited resources to generate revenue. Therefore, we cannot accept this proposal,” he said.
However, the CEM said there are constituencies like Mawlai, Nongstoin, Mawryngkneng and Jirang – which need delimitation.
“Therefore we reiterated our stand on the need to increase the number of seats to 37 of which 35 are elected and 2 will be nominated members one of which will be reserved for women,” he said.
Regarding unrepresented tribes, Chyne said the KHADC has suggested deletion of this from the proposed amendment.
“This is because of the fact that there are many tribes and it is impossible for the council to accommodate all of them for nomination as members of the council. In view of this, we feel that it is better to avoid mentioning the names of the tribes as far as nomination of members is concerned,” he said.
Regarding the village and municipal councils, Chyne said the KHADC has opposed this move as it is against the customary practices of the indigenous people and demanded that the age-old traditional institutions be given recognition in the constitution.
The KHADC also objected to any form of Panchayat raj governance.
The KHADC also demanded removal of the word President in Para 12 A (b) of the Sixth Schedule and to replace it by the word Governor so that power to implement or not to implement central laws will be left to the governor.
