Shillong, April 24: The three Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) of Meghalaya – KHADC, JHADC and GHADC – on Monday reiterated their strong opposition against the inclusion of ‘unrepresented tribe’ and ‘village council’ in the proposed amendment to the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.

After a joint meeting held here, KHADC chief Titosstarwell Chyne told reporters that the matter was discussed by the three ADCs after the Centre had yet again sought for their views.

“We are totally against implementation of the unrepresented tribe and the state government is also in the same line with us. Regarding the village council issue, we had maintained that instead of this, we propose village development council,” Chyne said.

He said that the two issues have been pending as they needed elaborate discussion.

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“We have discussed this matter seriously. We have highlighted to our friends from Jaintia Hills and Garo Hills that in KHADC, we have passed the Village Development Council Bill and we would also like to, that even in these two ADCs, they also should pass this Bill so that implementation of village council will not be applicable as we have our own traditional institutions,” Chyne said while adding that “because according to this proposed amendment, the implementation of the village council in the state will dilute the powers and functions of our traditional institutions. We will not like to see our traditional institutions will go away; we would like to see them to remain with our traditional practice that is why we have decided this matter will be discussed in the respective councils soon.”

Further, the three autonomous district councils have also unanimously opposed the implementation of the Swamitva Scheme by the Centre because the state has its own land tenure system.

Meanwhile, the KHADC chief also informed that they have demanded the state government to transfer back the subject relating to issuing of Scheduled Tribe certificate to all the three ADCs as it was done in the past.

“Issuing of PRCs by respective DCs was also discussed. The district administration should first get the confirmation from the ADCs before issuing any PRCs,” he stated.

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