Power and Parliamentary Affairs minister KG Kenye has revealed that the State government would soon constitute a committee and hold wider consultations with stakeholders to come up with a Municipal Act that would be “befitting our way of life and our social practices”.
Addressing media persons at Hotel Japfü, here on Thursday, Kenye said that though there was no timeframe, the government was aware of the urgency to frame the law.
“After having tried the Municipal Act 2001, we ran into a lot of controversies. Hence, we took a relook and completely repealed it on March 28 through the Nagaland Legislative Assembly. The legislature will adopt the new municipal Act as early as possible,” he stated.
Recalling the chronology of events, Kenye recalled that the Nagaland Municipal Act, 2001 was enacted by the Assembly for the first time in the backdrop of the State being a resource-crunch State with almost zero revenue and the government had to look for funds to develop towns and cities.
He mentioned that the Central government gave fund as aid to municipal and town councils only if the States enacted laws to constitute the councils.
“Perhaps in desperation, the government of yesteryears had to enact this Act then. We don’t attribute any ill-motive, as we are certain that this was with a good intention. To develop our State and benefit citizens, they pushed through the legislation,” he remarked.
Without wanting to point fingers or finding faults of the then government, the minister however pointed out certain oversights on the part of the executive and bureaucracy. “It is their responsibility to properly advice the government,” stressed.
Kenye also spoke on the consequences of endorsing the series A-Z of Article 243, besides the 74th Amendment to the Constitution of India. He said the Article can be traced back to the 73rd amendment which was in place prior to 1992 and its transition superseded by the 74th amendment, also contained other articles in the constitution which came along with it.
He recalled that in 1992-93, secretaries of Urban Development departments of different States were asked to put in their opinion or forward their suggestions if any rectification had to be made. Several secretary-level meetings were held thereafter and a lot of correspondences were exchanged between the Centre and the States. Time was given to all the States to react from 1993 to 1994, he added.
Kenye said unfortunately, Nagaland got its Municipal department only a few years back, while the Urban Development department was only a small cell under the Planning department. He wondered whether there was any correspondence between the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Nagaland or whether any secretary represented the State at any level for discussion on the matter.
“So we missed the bus and we could never respond to it and the Act, the 74th Amendment, was adopted by our Assembly in 2001 just the way it was,” he said.
Kenye said, that along with the Central Act, there were so many other laws and regulations that come along. Since 2001, Nagaland government had tried to amend certain parts of the Nagaland Municipal Act at least five times, but failed to meet our people’s desire.
Kenye assured that the laws and regulations proposed to be framed would suit local conditions and explained that the reason the Assembly had repealed the Act in toto was because of the issue of 33% women reservation in urban local bodies, over which certain sections of society had dragged the government to court.
“There was a tussle between our own people over the social practices in Naga society. Tribes did not accept the imposition of a fixed percentage of women representatives because it was not akin to their culture or social practices. We even had an extreme custom whereby women were barred from taking part in many areas of our social lives,” he pointed out.
However, Kenye said that over the years Nagas have made concessions and they had removed all restrictions on women to keep pace with time and today women are taking part in many male-dominated areas of work, including leadership.
The minister observed that over the years, people removed such hurdles and presently, women representatives could be seen even at the grassroots levels like village councils, while village development boards have women members.
Kenye however remarked that the people and the government must be permitted to frame “our own rules, our own laws in as far as our social practices are concerned”.
He quoted Article 371A of the Constitution of India that clearly stated that no Act of Parliament in respect of social and religious practices or customary laws and traditions would be imposed in Nagaland unless the State Assembly adopted it by a resolution.
Referring to media reports of a contempt of court notice on chief minister and the State government, Kenye clarified that it was a “gross misconception”that there was a contempt of court. “It is unfounded and baseless,” he clarified.
As the matter of conducting ULB elections in the State with 33% women reservation was sub-judice, Kenye hoped that the Supreme Court would study the origin of Article 371A and understand why the special provision was granted to Nagaland.
He said despite the Supreme Court’s order to conduct the civic body polls, the State government had called it off after the Nagaland Municipal Act was repealed by the Assembly. He said in the absence of any Act now, there was no ground to hold the elections.
He clarified that the NM Act was repealed after the State Assembly identified that the objections from the public pertained to the principal Act, which was the 74th Amendment Act. While no Act passed by the Parliament could be rejected, he said Nagaland was empowered to reject or accept it under Article 371A.
He mentioned that the executive had in the past failed to guide the legislature about the implications of adopting the Act. Since the Act was adopted, he said attempts were made in the past to implement it with several amendments
Kenye pointed out that the amendments the public had sought following the announcement of the 2023 ULB polls could not be carried out as the legislature could not change or segregate the principal Act. So, with the powers vested under Article 371A, he said a decision was taken to reject the Act in total.
Govt mulls official interpretation of Article 371 (A)
Meanwhile, Kenye also revealed that the State was mulling to come up with an official interpretation of Article 371A. Pointing out that there were too many interpretations of the Article, he said it was high time for the State to have an official version or interpretation of the Article.
He mentioned that the matter was under discussion at the highest level after the need was felt to have an official version of the Article for the State.
On the State government’s plan, Kenye said all 60 members of the State Assembly would discuss and deliberate on the matter, following which a consensus would be reached for an official interpretation.