Shillong, Oct 1: KHADC member from Nongthymmai Latiplang Kharkongor said the Garo tribe are having the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council and giving them nomination in the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council does not arise.

“All the three tribes – Khasi, Jaintia and Garo are having their own respective autonomous district councils. The Garos are having the GHADC and the question to nominate them in the ADCs of Khasi and Jaintia does not arise,” Kharkongor told reporters here on Tuesday.

He was reacting to a recent statement made by a former chairman of the disbanded Achik National Volunteers’ Council (Breakaway) Bernard N Marak that Garos will lose privilege of being nominated into the KHADC and JHADC if the word ‘unrepresented tribes’ is excluded.

This also came after a committee headed by the district council affairs minister James K Sangma has decided to recommend deletion of the word unrepresented tribes from the proposed amendment Bill related to the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

Opposing this, Marak had also questioned whether the Garos in Khasi and Jaintia Hills are not unrepresented tribe.

“Garos though they are considered STs, they are deprived from participating in the Council elections and in some areas their names are deleted from the electoral roll. It will defeat the objective of maintaining equal status of the STs. We don’t mind a Khasi or a Jaintia being nominated in the GHADC,” the former militant leader had stated.

To this, Kharkongor however said it is not our look out if the counterpart in Garo Hills has unrepresented tribes.

On the demand for establishment of village council in Garo Hills region, the Nongthymmai MDC further alleged that this is to grap land under the jurisdiction of the KHADC.

“We support the demand for creation of Garoland and establishment of village council in Garo Hills but after proper demarcation of boundary,” he said.

There has also been a growing demand for deleting the other tribes from the Schedule Tribe list of the state by amending the Constitution (Schedule Tribe) Order, 1950 in view of the proposed amendment to give nominatation to unrepresented tribes in the autonomous district councils.

Earlier when asked on the stand of the Council, KHADC chief Teinwell Dkhar had informed that they are in the process of collecting documents before taking up the matter with the state government.

On this, Kharkongor however said that he has already submitted all the related documents which include Supreme Court’s ruling, a circular from the Ministry of Home Affairs and admendments made by states like Sikkim and Nagaland to the executive committee during the last session.

“The CEM cannot deny this,” he said.