Shillong, July 23: A delegation of the ten autonomous district councils (ADCs) from the North East region will be meeting the union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Tuesday for seeking his intervention into the need for the Centre to speed up clearing the proposed amendment of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India during the parliament session.
The decision was taken at a meeting of all the chief executive members (CEMs) of the 10 ADCs (of which 3 from Meghalaya, 3 from Mizoram, 3 from Assam and 1 from Tripura) held at New Delhi on Tuesday.
In a statement issued after the meeting, Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) chief Pyniaid Sing Syiem said, “We have unanimously decided to meet the union home minister for urging his personal intervention to ensure that the amendment of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution is tabled and cleared during the parliament session.”
He informed, “Shah has agreed to meet the group of 10 ADCs tomorrow.”
“We will be submitting a memorandum urging the Centre to bring the amendment to further strengthen the provisions of the Sixth Schedule for the protection of the indigenous people of the North East region,” Syiem said.
Informing that the KHADC would also submit a separate memorandum before Shah, the CEM said that the council is reiterating its stand that number of seats should be increased to 37 of which 6 elected and 2 nominated.
KHADC currently has 29 elected seats and 1 nominated.
“We have also stressed the need to delete the word unrepresented tribes. Out of the 2 nominated seats, one will be reserved for women. In regards to the conduct of ADC elections, we suggested that it should be conducted as per election rules of Sixth Schedue and not by the Election Commission of India,” he stated.
