Sixth Schedule areas exempt from CAA, clarifies CM Conrad Sangma

Staff Reporter

Shillong, March 12: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today said that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will not have any impact on Meghalaya since the entire Sixth Schedule areas have been exempted from its purview. 

Speaking to reporters, Sangma said that the question of the Government of India (GOI) coming up with the rules those are procedures that are followed by the GOI.

“But from Meghalaya’s point of view it doesn’t really impact us much because the Sixth Schedule areas are completely exempted from the CAA and hardly we say 99.9 % but it is actually 99.9999% it is a small section which is non-schedule area but apart from that the entire Sixth Schedule area has been exempted so it will not have any impact on the state of Meghalaya,” he said. 

On government to continue pursuing Centre to fully exempt Meghalaya from the CAA, Sangma said, “There is hardly municipal area of 2-3 or this entire European ward of 2sq km or 1sq km or whatever it is really not a big impact as the entire of the state is exempted from it.”

“I think we are looking at that one dot which is there and not realising that the rest of 99.9999 per cent is not included, that is what is important to note. That one dot is there because of a technical issue otherwise the entire Sixth Schedule area is exempted from the CAA,” he added.

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Councils still against inclusions in proposed amendment to 6th Schedule

The three autonomous district councils – KHADC, JHADC and GHADC – has reiterated their strong opposition against the inclusion of ‘unrepresented tribe’ and ‘village council’ in the proposed amendment to the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.

After a joint meeting held here, KHADC chief Titosstarwell Chyne told reporters that the matter was discussed by the three ADCs after the Centre had yet again sought for their views.

“We are totally against implementation of the unrepresented tribe and the state government is also in the same line with us. Regarding the village council issue, we had maintained that instead of this, we propose village development council,” Chyne said.

He said that the two issues have been pending as they needed elaborate discussion.

“We have discussed this matter seriously. We have highlighted to our friends from Jaintia Hills and Garo Hills that in KHADC, we have passed the Village Development Council Bill and we would also like to that even in these two ADCs, they also should pass this Bill so that implementation of village council will not be applicable as we have our own traditional institutions,” Chyne said while adding that “because according to this proposed amendment, the implementation of the village council in the state will dilute the powers and functions of our traditional institutions. We will not like to see our traditional institutions will go away, we would like to see them to remain with our traditional practice that is why we have decided this matter will be discussed in the respective councils soon.”

When asked, the KHADC chief said, “These are the two issues which the central government has written to the state government to look into these issue.”

“Once we clear these two issues, then I think the central government also will be willing to pass this amendment at the earliest possible. Once we give green signal from here I think the Centre will take a call,” he added.

Regarding the number of seats, Chyne said, “We (three ADCs) have already agreed that it should not exceed 40 seats. That we have agreed.”

Further, the three autonomous district councils have also unanimously oppose the implementation of the Swamitva Scheme by the Centre.

“We totally oppose the implementation of this scheme in the state as our land tenure system is totally different from other states in the country. We have our traditional practices, we have our own land holding system in our state so that is why implementation of this scheme in the state is not acceptable,” Chyne said.

Meanwhile, the KHADC chief also informed that they demanded the state government to transfer back the subject relating to issuing of Scheduled Tribe certificate to all the three ADCs as it was done in the past.

“Issuing of PRCs by respective DCs was also discussed. The district administration should first get the confirmation from the ADCs before issuing any PRCs,” he stated.