Meghalaya Assembly ratifies 126th amendment bill on reservation

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJanuary 20, 2020

SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Legislative Assembly has unanimously passed a resolution ratifying the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Sixth Amendment) Bill, 2019.

The amendment provides for extension of reservation to Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for the next 10 years.

“Now, this House ratifies the amendments to the Constitution of India falling within the purview of clause (d) of proviso to clause (2) of Article 368, proposed to be made by the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Sixth Amendment Bill, 2019…,” chief minister Conrad K Sangma said.

He said the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha have passed the Bill in the month of December, 2019 and has forwarded to the state legislature for ratification before the Bill is placed for assent of the President of India.

Conrad said although the SC and the ST have made considerate progress in the last 70 years, the reasons which weighed with the Constituent Assembly in making provisions with regard to the aforesaid reservation of seats have not yet ceased to exit.

“Therefore, with a view to retaining the inclusive character as envisioned by the founding fathers of the Constitution, it is proposed to continue the reservation of seats for the SC and ST for another 10 years i.e. up to 25^th January 2030,” he said.

Supporting the resolution during the special session, the opposition Congress however expressed concern over the decision of the Centre not to further extend reservation to the Anglo Indians and the period proposed for extension of the reservation to SC and ST.

The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government was also asked to articulate this concern while sending the ratification of the Bill to the Centre.