SHILLONG, Nov 28: The next round of meetings of the Expert
Committee for reviewing the Meghalaya Reservation Policy will
be held on December 6.
This was informed by Meghalaya chief secretary, DP Wahlang
to a delegation of the Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening
Movement (KHNAM) during a meeting held in his office
chamber here recently.
“We were informed by the chief secretary that the first meeting
of the expert committee was held on November 23 and they
will again sit for their second meeting on December 6,” KHNAM
general secretary James MA Neng told reporters after the
meeting.
He said after seeing no sign of progress, the party has decided
to meet the chief secretary to seek clarification on the status of
the expert committee.
He said that the majority of the political parties are now
keeping silent on the issue.
“We have also urged the chief secretary to ensure the
committee completes its exercise at the earliest,” Neng said.
The general secretary also claimed that the KHNAM was never
satisfied with the decision to constitute the expert committee
because such panels will only delay things further and said,
“But we cannot do anything as we were the only party which
had expressed dissatisfaction on this regard during the all-party
meeting.”
“Since the expert committee has been formed, we will not sit
idle on the issue but we will ensure that the exercise is
completed so that the reservation policy is fully implemented,”
he said.
He also slammed the political parties for allegedly pretending
to have forgotten about the reservation policy. “We see that
almost all political parties have forgotten and have gone to
slumber. With all due respect to political parties, they don’t
have much concern about the reservation policy despite the
fact that our youth are facing lots of problems. Therefore,
KHNAM is a movement to remind people on this issue,” Neng
added.
Further, the KHNAM leader said that the chief secretary had
informed that there are lots of expenditures in constituting the
expert committee, which also has its office in New Delhi while
urging political parties especially those which have staged a
massive protest not to abandon the issue halfway.
The five-member expert committee headed by the Former
Judge of Madhya Pradesh High Court Justice (Retired) Mool
Chand Garg was constituted on August 25.
Former Judge of Allahabad High Court Justice (Retired) Dr
Satish Chandra was also appointed as an expert member in
Constitutional law. Justice Chandra is also a former president of
the Custom, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal.
The other three expert members are Prof DV Kumar from the
department of sociology, NEHU, Shillong as an expert member
in Sociology, Prof Chander Shekhar from the department of
fertility and social demography, Indian Institute of Population
Sciences (deemed to be University), Mumbai as an
expert member in population studies and Prof Subhadip
Mukherjee, Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Policy
in IIM, Shillong as expert member in Economics.
The terms of reference of the Expert Committee is to study the
current reservation policy and recommend modifications, if
necessary and to undertake wide-ranging consultations with all
stakeholders and visit various locations of the State to solicit
the views of all stakeholders. The Committee has been asked to
complete its task within 12 months. (NNN)
