Article 371C of the Constitution: The role of the President, Governor and HAC
- Part 1 -

K Timothy Zimik *

Article 371C of the Constitution makes special provisions for the State of Manipur. In this article, the roles of the President, the Governor, and the HAC under Article 371C are discussed in brief from the layman's point of view.

The Role of the President of India

The President of India is empowered to provide:
(i) The Constitution and functions of the Hill Areas Committee (HAC) of the Manipur Legislative Assembly consisting of the members elected from the Hill Areas of the State.
(ii) The modifications to be made in the rules of business of the Government and in the rules of procedure of the Legislative Assembly of the State.
(iii) Any special responsibility of the Governor in order to secure the proper functioning of such committee.
(iv) The President has the power to direct the Governor to submit a report to him regarding the administration of the Hill Areas in the State of Manipur.

3. Under Article 371C, the President of India has the real powers to issue orders relating to the proper administration of the Hill Areas in the State of Manipur. In exercise of such powers conferred by Article 371-C of the Constitution of India, the President of India made the Manipur Legislative Assembly (Hill Areas Committee) Order, 1972 consisting of 9 paragraphs and 4 Schedules.

4. After making the said Order of 1972, the President has not issued any further orders under Article 371C. The powers conferred by Article 371C is exercised by the President through the Governor of the State and the HAC.

It is the responsibility of the President to ensure that:
(i) The Order of 1972 is implemented and working properly.
(ii) The Governor is discharging his special responsibilities to secure the proper functioning of the HAC in accordance with the provisions of his Order of 1972.
(iii) The Governor is exercising his discretionary powers in safeguarding the interest of Hill Areas and is submitting the annual reports and other reports required by the President regarding the administration of the Hill Areas in the State of Manipur.
(iv) To review the implementation of his Order of 1972 and issue further orders and directions as deemed fit to provide proper administration and development in the Hill Areas of Manipur.

5. If we look at the pathetic conditions of these Hill areas—socio-economic and political, we realize that the President of India has failed to make the Central Government, the Governor and the HAC accountable, effective and functional as envisaged by the special provisions under Article 371C for the State of Manipur.

The people of these Hill Areas have also failed to bring this fact to the President so that appropriate necessary actions are taken at his end.

The Role of the Governor of Manipur

6. In paragraph 9 of his order of 1972, the President of India provides that "Special responsibility of the Governor-The Governor shall have special responsibility for securing the proper function of the Hill Areas Committee in accordance with the provisions of this order and shall, in the discharge of his special responsibility, act in his direction". There has been attempts to curtail the power of the Governor.

The original word 'discretion' appearing in the original Presidential Order of 1972 has been replaced by the word 'direction' in the State Government publication. The replacement of the word 'discretion' by the word 'direction' has the effect of making the Governor of Manipur less powerful. Such replacement makes the paragraph 9 of the President's order meaningless.

7. It is to be noted here that Article 371C does not expressly provide for the exercise of discretion by the Governor of Manipur. It is the Presidential Order that provides the Governor the power to act in his discretion. In the exercise of his discretionary powers and discharge of the functions provided by the Constitution with respect to the proper administration of the Hill Areas, the Governor of Manipur is not bound to seek or accept the advice of the Council of Ministers.

8. The Governor shall annually, or whenever so required by the President, make a report to the President regarding the administration of the Hill Areas in the State of Manipur.

9. For various reasons mentioned below, the Governor and the HAC have not been functioning properly since its inception:

(i) There are forces working against Article 371 C and its existence. Due to such constant attacks directly or indirectly, the HAC is facing a slow and steady death. And yet, the President and Governor have not taken cognizant of this existential threat.

(ii) There are no evidences to show that the past Governors had discharged their special responsibilities to secure the proper functioning of the HAC. Being a political appointee, the Governor's interventions or non-interventions have been mostly influenced by political and other considerations leaving the voice and interests of the Hill Areas unheard and unattended.

(iii) Being empowered with special responsibility and endowed with discretionary powers, the Governor is duty bound to make arrangement for an equitable allocation of funds provided by the Centre to the Government of Manipur to meet the requirement of the State as a whole, and between the Hill Areas and the rest of the State.

The Hill Areas remain neglected and marginalized in key areas such as infrastructure, education, health, institutions, basic amenities, etc. Rightfully so, the Hill Areas have been demanding equal share of resources of the State.

But this has not happened. If we examine the sources of fund provided to the State of Manipur and the formulas ( Income distance / poverty , Population, Area, Forest and ecology, Demographic performance and Tax and fiscal efforts) applied by the 15th Finance Commission for distribution of revenues to the states, it will be seen that more than 50% of such funds is given to the State of Manipur because of the Hill Areas (please read the author's full article on this issue). But the Hill Areas are not getting their share.

(iv) The developmental disparities and the social-economic divide between the Hill Areas and the Imphal valley areas are widening. The Governor and the HAC are tasked with the responsibility of bridging this gap.

But again, this is not happening. The Role of the Hill Areas Committee 10. Vide his order, the President constituted the HAC and provided five functions to the Hill Areas Committee. As per the paragraph 4 of the Manipur Legislative Assembly (Hill Areas Committee) Order, 1972 made by the President of India, the five functions of the HAC are:

(1) All Scheduled matters in so far as they relate to the Hill Areas shall be within the purview of the HAC.
(2) All Bills except Money Bill in respect of scheduled matters shall be referred to the HAC for consideration and report to the Assembly.
(3) The HAC shall have the right to consider and pass resolutions recommending to the Government of the State any legislation or executive action affecting the Hill Areas with respect to any Scheduled matters
(4) The HAC has the power to discuss the annual financial statement in so far as it relates to the Hill Areas.

(5) In its functioning, the HAC shall endeavor to:-
(a) safeguard the interest of the people of the Hill Areas, especially through accelerated development of these areas; and
(b) promote unity between the people of the Hill Areas and other areas of the State by aiming at an integrated and evenly based economic growth of those areas and augment the resources of the State as a whole.

11. According to paragraph 5, the Bill recommended by the HAC be passed by the Assembly with such variations as may be necessary in its applications to the Hill Areas.

12. The Second Schedule of the Manipur Legislative Assembly (Hill Areas Committee) Order, 1972 lists 13 Scheduled matters.

The 13 Scheduled matters are:
(1) Development and economic planning within the Plan allocations of the Hill Areas.
(2) Constitution and power and functioning of District Councils in the Hill Areas. (3) to (12)...
(13) Any other matter which the Assembly may by resolution declare to be a matter which shall come within the purview of the Hill Areas Committee.

Ineffective and Powerless HAC

13. The reasons are:
(1) The resolutions passed by the HAC recommending to the Government of Manipur any legislation or executive action affecting the Hill Areas with respect to the Scheduled matters are not binding on the Government. Such recommendations are normally ignored. Further, a Bill not approved by the HAC will still be passed by the Assembly.

(2) The hill area MLAs belonging to different political parties and different communities represent divergent views, conflicting interests and allegiance. They are not a cohesive group.

(3) There are people in Manipur who are against Article 371C and therefore, they have taken all possible steps to ensure that the beneficial Constitutional provisions granted to the people of Hill Areas are not implemented. The weaknesses of the people of the Hill areas are fully exploited.

(4) The hill area MLAs particularly belonging to the ruling party scramble to get accommodated in the Cabinet or seek political assignments or some favours from the Government of the day - one way or other to survive. Once accommodated, the interest of the Hill Areas is quietly buried. On their own volition, these representatives of the people become subservient.

(5) The voters, the public, the Churches and CSOs who indulge in electoral malpractices and take favours from the candidates in exchange for their votes are equally responsible for the helpless conditions of our society. They sell their right very cheap and they bring this wretched condition upon themselves.

(6) From the language of Scheduled matter No. 13 listed above, it is absolutely clear that, in his Order of 1972, the President of India has empowered the Assembly of the State to declare any other matter to be a Scheduled matter.


(To be continued)

The views expressed in this article are his personal views.