Whether it is a reflex or a pre determined event the former lawmakers of the state under the banner of Ex-parliamentarians Association of Nagaland recently conducted a seminar on Urban Local Bodies with regard to Article 371(A) of the Constitution. The unprecedented and the highly incensed opposition to the ULBs elections in the state in early 2017, by the tribe organisations and the masses did have its desired effect of grabbing the attention of persons who matter. It can be termed as a classic case of the adage better late than never. Over the years it seems lawmakers after lawmakers in the twelve tenures of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly never really bothered to look into the intricacies of the various laws enacted by the centre with regard to Article 371(A). Some of which were blindly extended to the state. It has been a tradition in the NLA that the majority of the elected members completely lack legal acumen with some quite audaciously announcing their inability in the August House.
The resource persons in the recent workshop who are legal luminaries in the form of retired judges spoke at length with their interpretation of the Constitution and the Nagaland Municipal Act 2001 and their talk touched mainly on women reservation and taxation. However, their interpretation too was similar with the other interpretations from the side of government, with negligible insights made for public consumption. Instead it seemed more of a reiteration of the current governments’ stand on the ULB elections.
One of the resource persons compared and almost equated the reservation enjoyed by the Scheduled Tribes in India with that of the women reservation in elected offices. Such an opinion is also found in abundance in social media even by school going kids. What the resource person did not say is, why all the seats in the ULBs is reserved only for Scheduled Tribes as per Nagaland Municipal Act 2001. They also did not ponder on why the Dimapur Municipal Council with only 40 percent ST population has 100% reservation for Scheduled Tribes. Can such an Act withstand the test of time and Law in the long run ?
The resource person were also quite silent on the Municipality (Extensions to Scheduled Areas) Bill that is currently under observation by a standing committee. It could have been discussed at least for awareness and possible workable imports since Nagaland is predominantly a Scheduled Tribe area with the land still owned to the villages and tribes. Except for the cadastral surveyed lands mainly in the municipality of Dimapur, there is no legal fiction on land in Nagaland. Such an important perspective was also missed out in the recent workshop.
The workshop also did not dwell on the recommendation made to the National Commission to review the working of the Constitution on empowering local and tribal institutions in Northeast India that was made in 2001. It specifically deals with the extension and empowerment of the local self governance bodies in the region on the model of the Panchayati Raj/Municipalities in other states. A section of the consultative paper that was prepared under the in-charge of former Union Minister Late P.A.Sangma specifically deals with Nagaland and Article 371(A). It raised some points like empowering the tribe organisations with direct funding from the centre. In continuation the recent workshop could have discussed if the municipalities be handed over to the tribe organisations of that district whose leaders will be elected democratically.
The one notable suggestion during the workshop was for a state law commission by one of the resource persons since the knowledge of law in the state is very young. It is indeed highly required in the state. It is not only the common people but even the lawmakers or the MLAs need some basic understanding of the laws that govern us, which is still lacking to a great extent. Nevertheless the recent workshop can be taken positively if more such events can be conducted for the sake of the MLAs since they need to know what laws they are enacting!
