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Govt yet to examine Clause 6 panel�s report

By STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Dec 28 - Assam Government is yet to examine the report of the Committee formed for recommending measures for implementation of Clause 6 of Assam Accord. Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Chandra Mohan Patowary admitted this fact in a written reply to a question by Debrbrata Saikia in the State Assembly today.

Saikia asked the Government about its stand on the report of the Committee headed by Justice (retd) Biplab Sarma. He pointed out that following a meeting with the Union Home Minister in September this year, the Chief Minister and the Finance Minister had announced that the report of the Committee would be examined by legal experts before sending the same to the Centre.

Patowary said that the process of forming a committee of legal experts is on to examine the report of the Justice Sarma committee. However, he said that the process was delayed because of the situation created by outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It may be mentioned here that the Ministry of Home Affairs formed the Committee headed by Justice Sarma last year to recommend measures for implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, which envisages providing Constitutional protection to �Assamese people.� After finalizing its report in February this year, the Committee informed the Home Ministry. However, the Union Home Minister did not accept the report himself. Assam Chief Minister accepted the report on behalf of the Union Home Minister on February 25. Interestingly, the Joint Secretary (North East) of the MHA was the member secretary of the Committee, but he did not sign the final report.

The Committee gave wide ranging proposals for implementation of Clause 6 of the Accord including reservation of 80 to 100 per cent seats in the Assembly, Parliament and local bodies for indigenous people, introduction of Inner Line Permit (ILP) system in the State, etc. The Committee also recommended that the Indian citizens, who were in the State in 1951 should be treated as �Assamese people� for the purpose of giving reservation.

The Committee also gave wide-ranging recommendations for protection of land rights of indigenous people. The Committee, in its report, said that the Government should draw up a time-bound programme for the implementation of the recommendations and the process should be completed within two years.

Though the Committee was headed by a retired Judge of the Gauhati High Court and the Advocate Generals of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh were its members, the Centre had asked the State Government to get the report examined by legal experts.

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