HYC asks Govt to arrange ceremony for closing down traditional courts

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaSeptember 8, 2022

The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) on Thursday asked the state government to arrange a ceremony for closing down all the courts created under the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India if it goes ahead with its decision to extend the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in the entire state of Meghalaya.

“Please arrange a ceremony to close down all the traditional courts, if you (government) no longer feel that the Sixth Schedule and district council courts created under it are not needed anymore,” HYC president Robertjune Kharjahrin told reporters.  

He said the government has always laid foundation stones for opening any projects so it can also do the same by laying foundation stones for closing down the traditional courts in the state.

Kharjahrin said if the government extends the CrPC and CPC to all the courts in the state, this means that the village courts which are functioning based on customs and traditions, will have to follow the letter of the CrPC and CPC but most of the traditional headmen and traditional chiefs are not lawmen.

“The moment you bring the CPC and CrPC into the grassroot level which means that all the Syiems and the Chiefs will have to pass law in order to hear cases. In case they don’t have a person who already passed law, they have to hire somebody and they will have to spend lots of money. If they can’t spend what they will do they will close down the courts. That is natural,” he said.

“Secondly, we know the district council courts in Khasi and Jaintia Hills they have the United Khasi Jaintia Hills Administration of Justice Rules 1953 and also they have the Khasi Syiemship Administration Rules, 1950 and through this, they hear and trial the cases. Now if the government extends the CrPC and CPC, there will be direct contradiction between these two rules along with these two procedures so going by para 12 AA definitely CrPC and CPC will prevail,” Kharjahrin stated.

Stating that the state government through the notification had made a big error, the HYC chief said, “It is an error but we are suspicious that it is not an error as how can a government make an error. What if the government does it purposely? We feel the government should rectify it. The government wants to extend CrPC and CPC. They can do so in normal courts but they should not do in village courts, additional subordinate courts and district council courts.”

Demanding the government to exempt the traditional courts from the CrPC and CPC, Kharjahrin said, “They (govt) should bring out specific language in the notification itself that the court created under the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India should be exempted from the CrPC and CPC and not only that the exclusive jurisdiction of this court created under the Sixth Schedule to hear and trial cases among tribal should not be in any way diluted. That is our demand.”

Further, Kharjahrin also warned the state government not to want a repeat of the situation due to a judgment snatching away the powers to issue certificates by the traditional headmen.

“We would like to remind the government there was one judgment where the powers of issuing certificates was taken away, it is just power of the headmen to issue certificate and we have seen what is the reaction, now if you are taking away the judicial powers of the headmen and chiefs and of district council, what will happen. We don’t want to see  that situation come again into the state of Meghalaya. So we demand from the government to once again relook into this matter,” he said.