Staff Reporter

Shillong, Nov 27: The next round of meeting of the Expert Committee for reviewing the State Reservation Policy will be held on December 6.

This was informed by the Chief Secretary DP Wahlang to a delegation of the Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) during a meeting held in his office chamber here today.

“(We were informed by the CS) that the first meeting of the expert committee was held on November 23 and they will again sit for their second meeting on December 6,” KHNAM general secretary James MA Neng told reporters after the meeting.

He said after seeing no sign of progress, the party has decided to meet the chief secretary to seek clarification on the status of the expert committee.

According to him, the majority of the political parties are now keeping silent on the issue.

“We have also urged the chief secretary to ensure the committee completes its exercise at the earliest,” Neng said.

The general secretary also claimed that the KHNAM was never satisfied with the decision to constitute the expert committee because such panels will only delay things further and said, “But we cannot do anything as we were the only party which had expressed dissatisfaction on this regard during the all party meeting.”

“Since the expert committee has been formed, we will not sit idle on the issue but we will ensure that the exercise is completed so that the reservation policy is fully implemented,” he said.

He also slammed the political parties for allegedly pretending to have forgotten about the reservation policy. “We see that almost all political parties have forgotten and have gone to slumber

With all due respect to political parties, they don’t have much concern about the reservation policy despite the fact that our youth are facing lots of problems. Therefore, KHNAM is a movement to remind people on this issue,”Neng added.

Further, the KHNAM leader said that the Chief Secretary had informed that there are lots of expenditures in constituting the expert committee, which also has its office in New Delhi while urging political parties especially those which have staged a massive protest not to abandon the issue halfway.

The five-member expert committee headed by Former Judge of Madhya Pradesh High Court Justice (Retired) Mool Chand Garg was constituted on August 25.

Former Judge of Allahabad High Court Justice (Retired) Dr Satish Chandra was also appointed as an expert member in Constitutional law. Justice Chandra is also former president of the Custom, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal.

The other three expert members are: Prof DV Kumar from Department of Sociology, NEHU, Shillong as expert member in Sociology, Prof Chander Shekhar from Department of Fertility and Social Demography, Indian Institute of Population Sciences (deemed to be University), Mumbai as expert member in population studies and Prof Subhadip Mukherjee, Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Policy in IIM, Shillong as expert member in Economics.

The terms of reference of the Expert Committee is to study the current reservation policy and recommend modifications, if necessary and to undertake wide ranging consultations with all stakeholders and visit various locations of the State to solicit the views of all stakeholders.

The Committee has been asked to complete its task within 12 months.