Shillong, Sept 14: The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) will announce its final decision on Thursday after the state government has reiterated its stand that the recent notification related to the CrPC and CPC will not dilute the powers of the district council courts.
The decision was made after a meeting convened by the Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma with a delegation led by the KHADC chief executive member (CEM) Titosstarwell Chyne at the secretariat on Wednesday.
Meeting with Hon’ble Members of the KHADC to clear the misunderstanding regarding the notification of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) & the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) passed by the Cabinet recently pic.twitter.com/H9rPINfZbw
— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) September 14, 2022
Addressing media persons, Sangma said that the government has given a clear message to the district council that the entire purpose of coming up with the notification is to allow the judicial magistrates to continue their work and functions that were being done by the ADC judiciary when the judiciary and executive was not segregated.
“That was the only intention and objective of this notification and nothing beyond that and the question of diluting the powers of the district councils or interfering in the village courts or changing the procedures in the district councils is absolutely not there,” he said.
Stating that the powers of the district councils are protected by the provisions of the Constitution, Sangma said, “The most important protection that the district councils and their courts have is through the provision of the para 4 & 5 in the 6th Schedule and hence no notification will supersede that.”
“The intention and the spirit of this notification is purely simply to complete and regularise the process of separation of executive from the judiciary so that now ADC judiciary is not any more the district session judge, and the court can function and do the job as being done by the ADC judiciary,” he reiterated.
On the concerns raised by the KHADC with regards to tribal cases, the chief minister said the government had made it clear that there is no question of shifting tribal versus tribal as under para 4 of the 6th Schedule; these kinds of cases will be trial by the district council courts.
“I am pretty sure that the district councils are more or less convinced and we are moving ahead with this spirit and this objective that the district council courts and their powers will not be diluted in any way,” he added.
Later, Titosstarwell Chyne informed that the KHADC will again meet on Thursday to take a final call on the outcome of Wednesday’s meeting.
He admitted that the government had made it clear that the notification will not affect the district council courts, subordinate court and village courts.
“This means that CrPC and CPC will not apply in our courts as we have constitutional provisions as per para 4 & 5 of the Constitution. Relating to cases concerning tribal versus tribal, trial will be with district council courts. The district session court cannot trial such cases,” he said.
On the demand for including the word exemption of the district council courts from the notification, Chyne said, “We have again taken up this issue but I don’t want to spell out as these are related to legal matters, if we expose in the notification sometimes it may lead to misinterpretation – that is why we want the notification to be simple in order to prevent any chances of misinterpretation.”
“The government said that the powers will not be diluted as the district council courts will function as per spirit of the CrPC/CPC but in a letter that will not apply. In view of this, we will take a final decision tomorrow (Thursday) on the matter,” he said.
