AMTU urges State Government
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 19 2016 : The All Manipur Tribal Union (AMTU) has urged the State Government to elevate the village authority ex-officio/chairman to Serial No 38 under warrant precedence and the office term of village authority be made five years in lieu of the existing three years.

In a memorandum to the Chairman and Vice Chairman of Hill Areas Committee (HAC), Government of Manipur, the union while appreciating and taking cognizance of the proposal letter from Tribal Affairs and Hills Department of August 5, 2016, said that the Serial No 41 (members of Gram Panchayat) as stated in the said official communiqu� is proposed to be the status of chairman/ex-officio of Village Authority.

The same status shall not be appropriate for the chairman of Village Authority, it said, suggesting that Serial No 41 be made for the vice chairman/Luplakpa of VA as this post comes under election of Village Authority as an assistant to chairman of VA.

The AMTU memorandum signed by its general secretary Romeo Bungdon said the status of the chairman of VA should be elevated to Serial No 38 which shall be more appropriate as even judiciary task is allotted to the post.

If the proposed elevation is done, the power of the village chairman will be equivalent to that of an SDO or Judicial Magistrate while that of the Vice Chairman to an SDC or a Pradhan.

It said that the office term of Village Authority which is presently three years as per Section (6) of the Village Authority in Hill Area Act, 1956 should be extended to five years in the interest of the hill tribal people since traditionally and customarily, the term of a VA is five years.

The proposal submitted to the Hill Areas Committee by the Tribal Affairs and Hills stated that the chairman of VA is elected as per the Village Authority Act, 1956 and for those villages where there are chiefs, the ex-officio chairmen are the chiefs.

Village Authority is a democratic institution at the grassroot level.

The chairman and its members are elected by the people under the Village Authority Act, 1956 and hence it is appropriate to place them under the right warrant of precedence, it said.

In a joint meeting of the All Tribal Chiefs Forum and AMTU held on June 11, 2016, it was resolved that it is necessary to demand political status for village chiefs, equivalent to Pradhans of Gram Panchayat within the ambit of Manipur Hill Areas District Council Act, 1971 and Manipur Village Authorities in Hill Areas.

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