Shillong: A meeting between Autonomous District Councils ( ADCs ) and the government was held on Tuesday and was chaired by chief minister Conrad K Sangma.
The meeting was held to discuss at length the implementation of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) 1973 and Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) in the District Courts.
Despite the Meghalaya Government’s assurance that the powers derived by the District Council Courts under paragraphs 4 and 3 of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India, shall continue, the ADCs have somewhat differed.
Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) Chief Executive Member (CEM) Tittosstarwell Chyne said they have asked for two days so that they can sit with legal experts and also with the Member of the District Council (MDC). Chyne said that only then they will come up with their proposal.
Deputy CEM of Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC), Nikman Marak, said that their stand is that they don’t want the District Council Courts to be diluted. “We have a village court and district court and in the village court we don’t apply the spirit of CrPC and CPC, so that shouldn’t be diluted,” said Marak.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said that they clarified to the ADCs that there is no question of infringing or diluting the judicial powers of the District Councils.
Sangma said that whatever steps suggested by the government are only to regularise the overall functioning of the judiciary where the separation of the Executive from the Judiciary has taken place.
Earlier, the executive used to take up cases and those powers were conferred from the 1937 Act once they were separated the ADC judicial did not have the power to continue and hence Judicial Magistrates came into being. “The fact that the judicial magistrate is taking up cases they have to be conferred power under some provisions,” explained the CM.
Since the 1937 provisions were specific to Deputy Commissioners (DC) because in 1937 there were only DCs hence the Judicial Magistrate will have to draw powers from certain provisions in the Constitution so it was suggested to be drawn from Para 5.
The meeting held today was after the government issued a notification which reads-
In pursuance of full separation of Judiciary from the Executive and in the exercise of the power conferred in the proviso to sub-section (2) of Section of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973, (Act 2 of 1974) the Governor of Meghalaya is pleased to apply the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 to the District Courts in the State of Meghalaya. The District Council Courts shall continue to derive powers under paragraphs 4 and 3 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India
The Governor of Meghalaya further directs that notwithstanding such application, all actions taken by the District Courts throughout Meghalaya, under the Rules for the Administration of Justice and Police in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, 1937 and the Rules of Administration of Justice and Police in Garo Hills, 1937 shall deem to have been taken under the relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
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