Shillong, Jan 28: Meghalaya government has proposed 40 seats each for Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and the Garo Hill Autonomous District Council (GHADC) in the amendment to the Sixth Schedule. 32 seats have been proposed for the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC).
At present, all the three Autonomous District Councils in the state have 30 seats each, wherein 29 seats are elected and one is nominated.
As per the proposed amendment, KHADC and GHADC will have 40 seats each of which 4 seats will be nominated while 36 seats will be based on election. For JHADC, 2 seats have been proposed to be filled via nominated and elections to be held for 30 seats.
This was informed by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Friday after chairing a Cabinet meeting on the proposal Meghalaya government will be sending to the government of India for amendments to the Sixth Schedule of Indian Constitution.
Cabinet met today to discuss the Amendment of the Sixth Schedule & the proposals from the State Govt to GoI. We have finalised the no. of seats to the 3 ADCs & the formation of the Village Councils with the Nokmas/Rangbah Shnong/Sordar as ex-facto Chairmen of the VCs. pic.twitter.com/15Bj5UNtDH
— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) January 28, 2022
“The last pending issues were regarding the number of seats in the councils and regarding the formation of the village councils. In the number of seats, the proposal that the government of Meghalaya has given is that Khasi Hills and Garo Hills shall have not more than 40 members out of which not more than 4 will be nominated and rest will be elected through adult suffrage. And for Jaintia Hills, Jaintia Hills will have not more 32 members out of which not more than 2 will be nominated and the rest will be elected through adult suffrage,” he informed.
Village Council
Another important matter discussed was the Village Council as the state already has a age-old system of Dorbar Shnongs or village councils in place.
In the proposed amendment, the cabinet has proposed that the village councils will be elected including the secretary, but the chairmen chairman of every village council will be the Rangbah Shnong or the Sordar or the Nokmas.
“As per the different provisions, the other members also will be elected but the chairmen of every village council will be the rangbah shnong or the sordar or the nokmas… These are the two recommendations which are the last few issues that were left,” Conrad said.
“We have proposed it and this has been done ofcourse after thorough consultation and discussions with all different stakeholders including the ADCs and these suggestions have come from the ADCs and, accordingly, the state government has proposed this to the Government of India and these proposals will go in the next few days,” he added.
On the proposed move to nominate unrepresented tribes in the ADCs, the Chief Minister said that the matter was already discussed with the Government of India and MHA “and that particular clause will not be there (anymore).”
He said he will also be discussing this once he goes to New Delhi for discussion on the Assam – Meghalaya border issue.
