No money to fight for abolition of councils in SC : Michael Syiem

Shillong, Feb 20: Activist Michael Syiem, who had filed a PIL in the High Court of Meghalaya to do away with district councils, said on the eve of KHADC-JHADC polls on Thursday that he did not have money to pursue the matter in the Supreme Court.

Syiem also decided not to vote for any candidate in the polls on February 21.

The PIL was filed in 2015 challenging the relevance of the three autonomous councils after the formation of the state in 1972.

Syiem through his counsel Advocate N Syngkon had on February 19, 2021 withdrawn the petition as it involves other states in the North East but he was free to move the Supreme Court.

“After the matter was heard by the High Court, the option was to move the Supreme Court but I don’t have money to fight the case in the Supreme Court”, Syiem said.

The division bench of the high court in its order in 2020 had quoted the counsel for the Centre that since district councils are also in Assam, Tripura and Mizoram, it involves the Supreme Court.

On March 9, 2020, when the high court took up the matter,  the counsel for the petitioner asked for more time ‘to seek instructions
whether the petitioner would like to withdraw the writ petition with liberty to approach the Supreme Court, in view of the preliminary objection raised by  counsel for the respondent-Union of India that the prayer made in the writ petition, if granted, would affect the three other states, viz., Assam,
Tripura and Mizoram, owing to which, this Court would lack territorial jurisdiction to entertain the present petition’

In 2021, after the petitioner expressed the desire to withdraw the case,  the court ruled that ‘on the prayer of the learned advocate for the writ petitioner, the instant writ petition stands dismissed as withdrawn’.

According to Syiem, the legislative power of the autonomous councils is redundant as para 12 A of the Sixth Schedule states that the law passed by the state legislature takes precedence over the district councils. 

“The district councils have no legislative powers whether it is issues related to marrage, inheritance, land and education among others”, Syiem added