Somi Mashangva
Why Manipur District Council Act is ‘dangerous’ for hill tribes
TRIBAL RIGHTS WHISKED AWAY?
Articles 371 – C of the Constitution of India read with “The Manipur Legislative Assembly (Hill Areas Committee) Order, 1972” by the President of India empowered the Hill Area Committee (HAC) with immense authority and great responsibility for efficient administration of the tribal areas of Manipur. But the State Government of Manipur under the autocratic and dominant force of the non-tribals coupled with the ignorance and complacency of the elected representative of the tribals, deprived us from enacting and enforcing such laws and rules which will truly engrain, uphold and strengthen democratic process at the grass-root level in the hills. Some of the glaring example of deprivation and dangers of order of 1972 and Manipur (Hill Areas) District Council Act 1972 are briefly discussed below.
DEPRIVATION
1. Para 4, 5 and 6 of the Manipur Legislative Assembly (Hill Areas Committee) Order, 1972 empowered the HAC (i) Legislation of Laws (ii) Planning and implementation of development programmes (iii) executive function in so far matters related with the hill areas of Manipur. All these power and function are to be enforced through the respective district councils.
2. The HAC is also to allocate fund to the District Councils from the Annual Budget of the State Plan in so the Hill areas are concern.
3. Transfer and posting of all executive heads are to be enforced by the HAC in so far they are related to the Hill areas.
4. Hospitals, Primary Health Centres, High Schools and colleges, roads other than National High Ways are to be Subject matter of the HAC and to be enforced through the District Councils.
Till now these powers and function have not been affected.
DANGER
1. The Manipur (Hill Area) District Council Act (Third Amendment) 2008, section 29 (i) clause XIII empowers District Council to occupy and sell/allot land from villages. It can also set apart certain areas of Village land for purposes the Council thinks fit. This section contradicts with the Manipur State Hill People (Administration) Regulation, 1947 and the Manipur (Village Authority in Hill Areas) Act, 1956.
2. Section 29 (1) clause (XIV) of the Act also empower District Councils to manage forest can be declared as National Park or Protected Forest or Reserve forest by a District Council without much a do with a village authority.
3. Section 29 (2) (a) empower District Councils to recommend to the State Government for appointment or succession of Chief/Headman/Chairman without the knowledge or approval of the concern village.
4. Section 29 (2) (b) authorities District Council to issue orders by its own volition in matters relating to inheritance of property, marriage and divorce and control or regulation of customs and tradition.
5. The Deputy Commissioner is empowered by 46 (3) of the Act to suspend any resolution of the District Council if he/she thinks it improper or contravenes rules.
6. Section 47 of the Act empowers the Deputy Commission to recommend suspension of the District Council if he/she thinks the Council has violated rules. The District Councils are still kept at the whims and mercy of Deputy Commissioners inspite of the fact that the District Councils are constituted by elected representatives of the people.
DEMEANING ACT
The Manipur (Hill Areas) District Council Act 1971 was drafted by Shri DG Bhave retired Chief Secretary of Manipur in 1971 and enacted by Parliament in 1972. The Act was drafted not keeping in mind the socio-political and economic reality of the hill people at that time. The Parliament also did not dwell on the hollowness of the hill and hence passed without looking into the efficacy of the bill. The Manipur (Hill Areas) District Council (Third Amendment) Act 2008 also did not take any step to empower the functioning of the District Councils. An increase of more subject matters in section 29 (1) of the Act does not cause any different as the Power and Function under section 29 of the Act remain the same. The Manipur (Hill Areas) District Council Rule 1972 is yet to be amended. As per the rule of 1972 a Council is empowered to execute scheme worth below Rs.50,000/- (Rupees fifty thousand) only. Such obsolete Act and Rules are still being enforced even after nearly 40 years of their enforcement as if the hill people of Manipur have not change at all.
The hill people need an Act for the efficient functioning of District Council which will truly empower with (I) legislation in so far matters related with the livelihood and customs of the tribals (II) Planning for development, policy and programmes, and (III) executive in so far matters related with enforcement and local security.
Holding of District Council election in excitement and haste without knowing the spirit and contents of the Act and the Rules will only invigorate further the dangerous elements of exploitation against the tribals. This Act is literally an act of invasion on the polity, economy customs and tradition of the hill people of Manipur. Once election is held under this Act, we will be victims of economic and political exploitation and stagnation for another generation to come.
By H. L. Shangreiso
Wanted: Sixth Schedule for Manipur Hills
The Manipur (Hill Areas) District Council Act, 1971 was passed by the Parliament to provide for establishment of Autonomous District Councils in the Hill Areas in the then Union Territory of Manipur, but following the attainment of statehood in the year 1972, the Government of Manipur immediately adopted this Central Act by issuing the Manipur (Adaptation of Laws) Order, 1972 and in exercise of the powers vested in him under Section 3 of the Act, the then Governor of Manipur vide Notification dated 14.02.1972 initially constituted 6 (six) Autonomous Districts for the purpose of constitution of Autonomous District Councils (ADC in brief) under the aforesaid Act of 1971, namely (i) Manipur North ADC now Senapati ADC, (ii) Sadar Hills ADC, (iii) Manipur East ADC now Ukhrul ADC, (iv) Tengnoupal ADC now Chandel ADC, (v) Manipur South ADC now Churachandpur ADC and (vi) Manipur West ADC now Tamenglong ADC.
Unlike the ADCs created under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India, the 1971 Act does not provide legislative and judicial powers to the ADCs. It merely vests them with limited administrative powers under the pervasive control of the State Government. The ADCs can make recommendations to the state government to bring legislation on matters concerning the members of the Scheduled Tribe namely (a) appointment or succession of chiefs, (b) inheritance of property, (c) marriage & divorce and (d) social customs. The ADC is not empowered to generate its own revenue but is dependent on grant-in-aid from the state government. It is therefore evident that no elected ADC under this centralized legislation of 1971 could function effectively to meet the needs of the Hills people since the first election in 1973.
Despite the rhetoric of safeguarding the rights and interest of the Hills people, each political party in power in the State deliberately reduced the ADCs to an agent of the ruling party. As a result, the ADCs totally failed to deliver governance. Admitting the weakness of the ADC under the above 1971 Act, the first minor Amendment to section 25 of the Act was exercised by the State Government in 1975, but the same could not bring tangible results for the Hills people.
To mitigate these negatives the Hills people and NGOs started a campaign since 1972 to abolish the ADCs and to demand for the Sixth Schedule type arrangement. Finally, realising the momentum of the campaign against the 1971 Act, an unwilling State Government dissolved all the elected ADCs. Chandel ADC was dissolved in October 1988, Ukhrul, Churachandpur, Sadar Hills and Tamenglong ADCs were annulled in March 1989 and Senapati in November 1993. The State Government therefore took control of all the dissolved ADCs. Consequently all the functions of the ADC contemplated in the Act have ceased to exist except education.
Realizing the failure of this Act, from early 1980’s the Hills people started demanding for extension of Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to the Hill Areas of Manipur. But the Manipur Assembly without the mandate of the hills people purportedly enacted the Manipur (Hill Areas) Autonomous District Council Act, 2000 to repeal the parent Act of 1971 simply by inserting the word “Autonomous”, without providing true autonomy to the Hills people. Fortunately, the said Enactment of 2000 could not be implemented.
The Government of Manipur appears determined to frustrate tribal autonomy by amending the 1971 Act and renaming it the Manipur (Hill Areas) District Council (Second Amendment) Act, 2006 [Note: the word Autonomous is no more!] by inserting sub-Section (1A) in Section 29 (1) thereby conferring powers on the ADC to notify any areas in the District Council as Urban Areas for the purpose of formulation of development plans and inserting Section 44A in the Act of 1971 whereby no land situated within the ADC shall be allotted/ transferred/ leased by the Deputy Commissioner, other than for public purpose except with a resolution passed by the ADC by not less than 2/3 of its members. However, this Second Amendment of 2006 also did not bring vital changes in the parent Act of 1971 and the autonomy question remained elusive.
Ironically the Governor of Manipur in exercise of his powers under Article 213 of the Constitution of India, promulgated the Manipur (Hill Areas) District Council (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2008. Immediately the District Council Delimitation Committee was also constituted by the Governor to expedite the process of elections to the ADCs. This is seen as an imposition by the Hills people of Manipur. Thereafter the State Government enacted the Manipur (Hill Areas) District Council (Third Amendment) Act, 2008 in October, 2008 by declaring that the wishes of the Hills people have been incorporated in the aforesaid Third Amendment. But this Amendment contains no major changes.
Only some minor amendments like increasing the strength of the ADCs from 18 to 24, and increasing the administrative functions from the existing 17 to 26 by inserting a few more areas like fisheries, co-operative, sports & youth affairs, adult & non-formal education, horticulture and floriculture, rural housing scheme, village and cottage industries, small-scale industries, non-conventional energy sources, library and culture activities and power to recommend to the State for recognition of villages subject to resolution passed by a simple majority of the Council. The aforesaid powers incorporated in the Act by the Third Amendment are merely an eye-wash and the MDC can be manipulated by the political party /parties in power in the State. In fact, conferring more administrative powers/functions on the ADCs will not necessarily safeguard and protect the interest of the Hills people. Rather this exercise under the present Act of 1971 will allow greater space for the State Government to control and misuse the ADCs as mere agents/instruments to implement its own policy instead of the tribal policy formulated for uplifting the hills people socially, economically, politically and culturally.
Admittedly, the present ADC in the Hill Areas in Manipur is only a statutory authority /body created under the Act of 1971 unlike the ADC created under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. There is a clear distinction between the statutory body and constitutional body in terms of power, status and jurisdiction under the Constitution. The present ADC in Manipur is absolutely under the extensive control of the State Government and as such it is a part of the State. However, the ADC constituted under the Sixth Schedule is neither absolutely under the control of the State Government nor it is a part of the State, but it is ‘a state within a state’ under the Constitution. Basically, the executive, legislative and judicial powers of the ADC under the Sixth Schedule directly springs from the Constitution of India itself, whereas the source of administrative powers of the present ADC in Manipur is only drawn from the 1971 Act, as amended in Third Amendment Act, 2008.
ADCs under the Sixth Schedule enjoy constitutional status and have the privilege of exercising legislative, executive and judicial powers to protect and safeguard the interest of the tribal people but the ADC under the present Act in Manipur lacks such independent powers. The urgent need of the Hills people in Manipur is to have ADCs under the Sixth Schedule to restore their tribal autonomy, to safeguard social practices and customary laws, to protect the interest and rights of the tribal over their land, etc. They do not need ADCs under the present arrangements which are only state agencies for implementing the flagship schemes of the State Government as openly stated, recently by Ibobi Singh, Chief Minister of Manipur.
The fundamental objective of the Sixth Schedule is to establish ADCs in the North Eastern States wherever the indigenous tribes are in a minority, so as to safeguard their culture, land, natural resources etc. from unscrupulous exploitation of the majority or plains people. The tribes being in a minority in Manipur deserve to have ADCs under the Sixth Schedule, but the same has been strongly objected to and denied by the Government of Manipur. In fact the Government has forcibly imposed the present ADC on the Hills people. This is nothing but a ploy to control the Hills areas. Every now and then the Government tries to persuade the Hills people by saying that the Government is ready to go for further amendment of the Act of 1971, last amended in 2008.
But the need of the hour is not to go for further amendments but to completely repeal the Act and grant autonomy to the Hills people under the Sixth Schedule. Until and unless the Act is completely done away with, no amount of amendments will serve the interest of the tribes because more financial and administrative powers for the ADCs as envisaged by the State Government, through further amendment of the Act means more control by the state government. Imposition of election on the unwilling Hills people not only runs contrary to democratic norms but arbitrarily demolishes the democratic existence of tribal autonomy in Manipur. Therefore the ongoing economic blockade in Manipur called by the ANSAM, supported by the Hills people and others is an ultimatum to the Government to respect tribal autonomy. The state government must stop exercising tyrannical force against the minority Hills people to undermine their existence. Hence the Centre and the State Government of Manipur are constitutionally responsible for the injustice meted out to the tribes of Manipur under the Act of 1971 and as such onus to respect the cultural, social, religious and political rights of the hills people rests on the two governments by immediately bringing the Hills areas of Manipur within the purview of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India.
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