State minister in charge of DCA, HDR Lyngdoh read the report where he put the onus on the four regiol party alliance - ARPA - for the purported constitutiol crisis in the KHADC
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
SHILLONG, March 18: Meghalaya cabinet has ratified the proposal to impose administrator rule in the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC). The Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance (MUA) government endorsed the proposal of the department of district council affairs (DCA) during the Cabinet meeting chaired by the Chief Minister Mukul Sangma at the State Secretariat this evening. The administrator rule will last for a period of six months.
The cabinet decision came in the wake of a series of political developments within the council in the past one month where there has been defections and political tussle between the ruling All Regiol Party Alliance (ARPA) and the Congress-led People’s Democratic Front (PDF).
Chief Minister Mukul Sangma announced the Government’s decision to bring the KHADC under the administrator rule (Governor’s rule), saying that the pronouncement is due to constitutiol obligation to ensure right governce in the democratically elected institution.
State minister in charge of DCA, HDR Lyngdoh read the report where he put the onus on the four regiol party alliance - ARPA - for the purported constitutiol crisis in the KHADC. Citing the consistent change of arithmetic in the thirty (30) member house created by the defected MDCs, Lyngdoh said, “We have taken the decision to stabilize governce in the KHADC”.
The report referred to the PDF claim of having a majority after the defection of three ARPA members and the subsequent somersault of women MDC and defection by another PDF member to the ARPA, which the cabinet felt that it has made the political situation in the KHADC ‘fluid’.
Reference was also made to the ARPA claim that the 16-members are intact in the 30-member house while the present Chief Executive Member (CEM) Adilberth Nongrum has failed to resign even after the alliance has chosen a new leader (desigted CEM) in Metbah Lyngdoh.
The DCA Minister told newsmen that “under the circumstances and constitutiol provisions, there appears to be no option left for the government but to recommend to the Governor to take over the administration of the KHADC temporarily and appoint an administrator in exercise of the powers conferred by sub para (2) of para 16 of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India”.
However, the decision has raised eyebrows, especially because the Congress-led PDF failed to muster support to overthrow the ARPA, an alliance filled with inner contradictions. But the Chief Minister said, “There is no vindictive politics but an action based on our obligation towards the Constitution”.
The Cabinet has also chosen the Deputy Commissioner of East Khasi Hills district, Sanjay Goyal to be the administrator and it is awaiting the customary nod of the Governor.