Deputy Chief Minister in charge of Home (Police) and District Council Affairs Prestone Tynsong on Wednesday denied that the recent violence in Garo Hills reflected a law and order failure on the part of the State Government, instead placing responsibility on the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) for allegedly not following due procedure while issuing a notification that triggered the unrest. The Deputy Chief Minister, while acknowledging that the violence which began in West Garo Hills had spread to other districts of Garo Hills, said the State Government had acted on inputs from across the region and decided to postpone the general elections to the GHADC scheduled for April 10.
Tynsong maintained that district councils possess legislative, judicial and executive powers under the Sixth Schedule and therefore must take responsibility for decisions within their jurisdiction, particularly when it comes to matters that require amendments or policy decisions.
Tynsong said, “District council also they have their Legislative power, they have got judicial power, and also they do have the executive power, more or less like state Government, that’s why you can’t say that the government’s failure is there that’s why law and order situation has crop up. It is not like that, infact the district council themselves if they realise that they should have had a special session and discuss about this issue, since they already knew it why they did not discuss this issue (non tribal participation in GHADC), bring it to the district council session and then pass it then next course of action will happen, so therefore, even from the government side we have no role to play, it is not the duty of the government to say you have to pass or you have to do the ammendment of this. It’s not possible, infact they are the leaders they have to understand where to ammended where to again incorporate all those existing regulations, laws, rules.”
When asked about reports that violence was no longer confined to Tura in West Garo Hills but had also spread to Williamnagar and other areas, the Deputy Chief Minister acknowledged the spread of disturbances and said the decision to postpone the district council elections was taken after assessing inputs from across Garo Hills.
Tynsong said, “Yes it is that what I am telling you after taking all inputs from all across Garo Hills, the state Government decided to postpone the general elections to the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council which is scheduled to be held on April 10.”
Referring to the High Court order issued the last night, Tynsong said the court had pointed out procedural lapses in the manner the notification was issued by the Executive Committee of the district council, particularly in relation to the process involving Schedule Tribe certificates.
Tynsong said, “In view of the court order last night, from the High Court which says that they are not talking about the spirit of the notification but they straight away mentioned about the process of the notification which is not as per the proper norms, not as per the procedure, so therefore, the court said that the decision taken by the executive committee relating to the Schedule Tribe certificate is as of today is illegal, why because the practices of the executive committee is when they take any major decision like schedule Tribe certificate or any other issue first they have to pass it in the Executive Committee thereafter they have to bring it to the house.”
He further explained that the functioning of district councils is similar to legislative institutions where decisions must follow established procedures before they can become valid.
Tynsong said, “The functioning of the district council is more less like Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, just like the parliament also, so we need to follow strictly as per the rules, regulations and the guidelines. so therefore, the decision and the notification issued by the Executive Committee of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council, even myself I feel it is totally incomplete, so therefore if they really wanted to follow the rules and procedures and make sure that ammendment of rules happens, it has to be done through proper channel meaning one is let the EC pass and then bring it to the house, if the house approves the proposed amendments then the ammendment passed by the house should come to the governor for his ascent.”
