Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong on Wednesday pushed back against suggestions that the recent violence in Garo Hills represented a law-and-order failure by the state government, placing the blame squarely on the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) for not following due procedure before issuing a notification that sparked the unrest.
Tynsong, who holds charge of the Home (Police) and District Council Affairs portfolios, said the violence had spread beyond West Garo Hills to other districts including Williamnagar, and confirmed that the state government had decided to postpone the GHADC general elections, which had been scheduled for April 10, after assessing ground-level inputs from across the region.
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Tynsong argued that district councils under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India hold legislative, judicial, and executive powers — comparable in scope to those of a state government — and must therefore bear responsibility for decisions made within their own jurisdiction.
"If the district council had realised the issue earlier, it could have convened a special session to discuss it. Since they already knew about the matter of non-tribal participation in GHADC elections, they should have brought it to the council session and passed the necessary decision before taking further action," he said.
He added that the state government had no role in directing the council to pass or amend its own regulations. "The council leaders must decide where amendments or incorporations of existing regulations, laws and rules are required," Tynsong said.
Referring to an order issued by the Meghalaya High Court the previous night, Tynsong said the court had identified procedural lapses in the way the GHADC's Executive Committee had issued its notification — particularly regarding the process involving Scheduled Tribe certificates.
"The court did not question the spirit of the notification but pointed out that the process followed was not in accordance with proper norms and procedures," he said. The court held that the Executive Committee's decision on Scheduled Tribe certificates was illegal because such a major decision must first be passed by the committee and then placed before the full House.