SHILLONG, JAN 10: Leader of Opposition and former chief minister Mukul Sangma has lambasted the NPP-led MDA government for allegedly overstepping its legislative powers by proposing amendments to the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act (MRSSA). Sangma has dared the government to draft a new law protecting the people’s interests, if they doubt the efficacy of MRSSA, 2016.

“The government’s proposed amendment has failed, but the principal Act (MRSSA) has not failed because they wanted to amend which goes beyond their legislative jurisdiction,” Sangma told reporters on Saturday.

“We are in a federal structure; we cannot tamper any subject which is in the Union list. Therefore, when we make law, it must be well understood by the authors of that proposed Bill which ultimately if passed by the House will become an Act after the consent or assent of the Governor that we skillfully script the law within our legislative jurisdiction so that it can always withstand any judicial scrutiny full stop. Once you go beyond then that so-called Bill will be sent to the government of India why because you have already overstepped so, Governor cannot assent. This means indirectly, the (MDA) government had a malafide intention to make this MRSSA, 2016 ineffective or wanted to put in a cold storage so, by default the MRSSA became unimplementable with that proposed amendment.”

He criticized the government’s legislative competence, saying “I have cautioned the government at the time of this exercise but they didn’t listen to me, they didn’t listen to the co-author, they thought they are better authors and look at the end results. I pity their legislative competence.”

The former chief minister accused the government of lying to the people about the facilitation centre, saying, “The High Court has said that in absence of proper guidelines, this facilitation centre should not operate. Who’s job is it to prepare and give the guidelines? How the facilitation centres shall operate has to be governed by some guidelines. They (government) didn’t do their job, they cheated the people, that is why the MRSSA couldn’t be implemented and subsequently somebody took this MRSSA for judicial scrutiny but this MRSSA, 2016 have withstood the judicial scrutiny but the proposed amendment went beyond the legislative jurisdiction of the state that is why MHA has returned that means you go beyond your job, beyond the mandate of the constitution.”

Sangma emphasized the importance of MRSSA, citing examples of countries like the USA and UK struggling with immigration issues.

“Why demand ILP? Precisely because of the challenges associated with uncontrolled immigration… MRSSA is designed to protect our people and maintain the demography of our tribes.”

The Leader of Opposition has also rebutted Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong’s allegation that the previous Mukul Sangma‑led government committed a blunder by inserting entry‑exit provisions only in the Rules, not in the principal Act citing that this omission rendered the legislation incomplete and vulnerable to judicial scrutiny.

“I am the author and he (Tynsong) was also the co-author, he was also there while we were discussing and if he wants to somehow take shelter under this kind of misinterpretation of the mandate of the law I pity him,” Sangma reacted.

He accused Tynsong of lying to the people, saying, “At the same time, I am also angry because he is lying to the people, who have elected him. He is lying to the people of Pynursla. Are people of Pynursla not concerned about immigration, they are, yes.”

Sangma questioned the government’s inaction, asking, “What is the other responsibility of the government? Come up with the rules for implementing any Act. Once you have an Act, you should have a rule to implement it. So, who is stopping him from making that rule that is exactly what the high court has referred to in absence of proper guidelines.”

He alleged that the government has a “malafide intention” not to implement the MRSSA, stating, “After the observation of the high court, how many years have passed, why couldn’t they do? That means they have a malafide intention not to implement this.”

Challenging the MDA government to come up with a new Act to protect the interests of indigenous people, if they don’t trust the MRSSA, 2016, Sangma said, “Now, if they don’t have the basic trust in the positive outcome of the MRSSA, 2016, let them come up with another Act. The state legislature has enough space to script any Act to protect the interest of our people.”

He emphasized the role of lawmakers and said, “The job of the people who are elected is not only running the government on the basis of the laws, which already exist. We are lawmakers and that means we have to make law and when we make law, we should know how to make law.”

Sangma reminded his fellow lawmakers of their crucial responsibility, “We are lawmakers, we are not lawyers, we are the authors of laws which we enact and pass in the Assembly. We are called lawmakers, I think we are forgetting this particular crucial responsibility which is vested upon all of us.”

He highlighted the flexibility of the constitution, “The constitutional provision is capable of giving the state to come up with various laws, which can somehow integrate and amplify each other”

Further, the Leader of Opposition has clarified that implementing the Inner Line Permit (ILP) is not within the state’s purview, unlike what the incumbent Chief Minister has promised.

“ILP is not a state subject. So, I couldn’t have promised to implement ILP unlike the present and incumbent chief minister because I know I cannot promise on behalf of the government of India, I cannot take the union government for granted.”

He emphasized that the then government worked within the state’s legislative jurisdiction to create an alternative solution, saying, “We worked on this available limited space as far as the legislative jurisdiction is concerned. We didn’t overstep but we went as far as possible. We were playing at the edge.”

“We did do this with the involvement of all stakeholders and we came up with this wonderful law – MRSSA,” he said adding “I always believe playing at the edge is always good because there nobody can actually supersede you. So, we played upto the level which I can say is tightrope walking.”