CoMSO demands Centre to bring entire Meghalaya under Sixth Schedule

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJanuary 18, 2020

SHILLONG: The Confederation of Meghalaya Social Organization (CoMSO) has demanded the Centre to declare entire the state of Meghalaya as tribal area.

Submitting its views and suggestions to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs during its visit to the state on Saturday, the CoMSO said as of now some areas in Meghalaya like the Shillong normal area or the municipality area of Shillong are not tribal areas and they are not within the jurisdiction of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC).

“Hence, in order to bring uniformity, it is important to make/declare the entire Meghalaya as tribal area falling within the purview of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India,” it said.

The CoMSO has also suggested the need to empower the Governor to exempt and modify any Act of Parliament in the state of Meghalaya.

“This special provision should be inserted in the proposed amendment…in order to give the indigenous community the right to protect and preserve its own unique identity,” it stated.

“We feel the state of Meghalaya also deserve the power to exempt and modify any act of parliament in the state through the Governor notification and the word “president” in the paragraph 12 A (b) needs to be replaced by the word “Governor”,” it added.

The CoMSO is also of the opinion that the provision and spirit of the Article 200 of the Constitution relating to the assent of Bills passed by the ADCs must be incorporated in the Sixth Schedule so as to ensure true autonomy to the legislative powers of the ADcs in Meghalaya.

It further suggested that the ADCs in Meghalaya need to be strengthened and empowered to legislate on important subjects such as transfer and alienation of land, protection and promotion of traditional arts, cultural activities…

“We are of the opinion that the ADCs and traditional institutions…need to be funded by the union government through Article 280 and under Article 275 of the Constitution of India,” it added.

The CoMSO has also demanded the word unrepresented tribes be deleted from the proposed amendment.