SHILLONG
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday said there was no question of diluting or infringing upon the judicial powers of the autonomous district councils.
He was speaking to reporters after a meeting with representatives of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC), Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) and Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) on the state government’s move to extend the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) to the entire state.
The councils have sought two days’ time to take a decision in this regard.
The request was made by the Chief Executive Members (CEMs) of the KHADC and JHADC and Deputy Chief Executive Member (Dy.CEM) of GHADC.
Sangma said, “The ADCs and their legal teams have asked for 24-48 hours to go through the entire points which were mentioned and discussed and they will get back to us. We are hopeful that we will be able to take it to its logical conclusion.”
He said the councils were told that whatever steps are being taken are only to regularise the overall functioning of the judiciary after separation of the executive from the judiciary has taken place..
“The executive earlier used to take up cases and those powers were conferred or used to be drawn by them from the 1937 Act and once the judiciary and the executive were separated, the ADCs did not have the powers to continue and hence the judicial magistrate came into play. And the fact that the judicial magistrates today are taking up cases, they have to be conferred powers under some provisions. The 1937 provisions were specific to the deputy commissioners because that time there were only them,” he said while adding, “so the powers were conferred to the administrative to the executive side and there was no judiciary at that point in time so the judicial magistrates will also have to draw powers from certain provisions in the Constitution and hence it was suggested that it should be drawn from para 5. But while we say that it is simply to ensure that the continuity of the judiciary — from the ADC judiciary to the judicial magistrates — can happen in a smooth manner, which is the main purpose.”
Reiterating that there is no intention to dilute the powers of the district councils, the chief minister said, the provisions and the powers of the district councils are clearly mentioned in the Constitution and the Sixth Schedule so there is no such question.
Earlier while talking to mediapersons, KHADC chief Titosstarwell Chyne informed that the ADCs have recently expressed their opposition against the move to implement the notification which seeks to extend the CrPC and CPC in the entire state.
“Accordingly, we were invited by the government for discussion on the matter today. We have discussed and deliberated at length and we have decided that all the three ADCs will sit with their legal experts and come back to the government with a proposal,” he said.
He said during the meeting, the ADCs were informed that the move of the government was to empower the judicial magistrates who were appointed after separation of the judiciary from the executive.
“Before this, the DC or ADC was also the judicial magistrate. However, after the separation was done, judicial magistrates are now being appointed at the district and sub-divisional level but they are yet to be conferred with such powers to try cases. Therefore, the government wants the courts which have now been established in the districts and sub divisions to function smoothly,” he said.
When asked, the KHADC chief said that chief minister has assured the ADCs that the district council courts will not be affected whether it is village courts or additional subordinate courts.
“Since notification from the government is very sensitive, we decided not to agree immediately but have sought time for discussion before taking a final call on the matter,” he said.
Chyne informed that he will call a meeting of all the MDCs along with legal experts before submitting the council’s proposal to the government on this regard.