The All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur (ANSAM) has publicly opposed the recent decision by the Hill Areas Committee (HAC) to constitute an ad hoc committee to oversee the functioning of the Autonomous District Councils (ADC) in Manipur’s hill areas. This decision, made on October 14, 2024, proposes the formation of a 20-member committee to “mend the functioning” of ADCs while elections, overdue since May 2020, remain on hold. In response, ANSAM issued a statement condemning the HAC’s move as undemocratic and unconstitutional.
HAC’s ad hoc proposal
According to the HAC’s resolution, the ad hoc committee would include 18 members from former ADC officials, local self-government experts, and intellectuals, along with two government nominees. However, ANSAM stated, “The people will not accept any policy decision to suit the convenience and whims of the certain group who are in the helm without following the rule of law.”
ANSAM’s objections to the Ad Hoc Committee
ANSAM emphasized that it “strongly views such propositions as an anathema to democratic principles and practices.” The organization criticized the HAC’s ad hoc proposal, arguing that it disregards Article 371C, a constitutional provision designed to protect local governance in the hill areas. According to ANSAM, “The state government and HAC members are expected to strengthen the local democratic institution, especially the hill areas, Autonomous District Council (ADC), which is governed by special provision, Article 371C and safeguarding the interest of the people they represent as the vanguards of hill areas by upholding the spirit and intent of the provision as enshrined in the constitution.”
Background of discontent
ANSAM’s opposition to the HAC proposal is rooted in a history of legislative actions that it sees as hostile to the interests of hill communities. The group recalled that “the Naga people have outrightly rejected the controversial third (Manipur Hill Areas) District Councils Amendment Act, 2008, Sixth and Seventh (Manipur Hill Areas) District Councils Amendment Bill, 2022,” accusing the state government of “deceitfully passing the bill bypassing the HAC in the whims and desires of the state government without undergoing due process.” This pattern, ANSAM contends, has repeatedly undermined local democratic institutions, stating that “such an imposed nature has been going on time and again in the pursuit of strengthening and upliftment of local political institutions—HAC, ADC in Manipur—which is a sad reality that needs to be done away forthright.”
Delayed ADC elections and Caretaker Chairmanship
Since the ADC’s tenure expired on May 31, 2020, the Manipur government has repeatedly committed to holding elections but has yet to follow through, ANSAM noted. “The government of Manipur has been announcing a series of commitments to conduct the election of ADC including the last cabinet decision 13-06-2024 yet it never happens till today, depriving the rights of the people,” the statement pointed out. In the interim, the state implemented caretaker chairmanships, which ANSAM denounced as an undemocratic measure. “Moreover, unfounded caretaker chairmen were in place for years, and anti-tribal bills such as the Sixth & Seventh (Manipur Hill Areas) District Councils Amendment Bill, 2022, were surreptitiously introduced and passed in the state assembly wherein rigidly rejected by all tribal apex bodies,” ANSAM added.
The Gauhati High Court struck down the caretaker system on March 15, 2024, citing it as unlawful. According to ANSAM, “Now, the caretaker chairmanship has been struck down by the Gauhati High Court order dated 15-03-2024, WA.NO.353 of 2023, court order cancelling the system of caretaker chairmanship with vide order No. TA-501/1/2022 e-TA & Hills, Government of Manipur.”
ANSAM’s final appeal
ANSAM criticized the HAC’s ad hoc committee proposal as “absurd and very unfortunate,” arguing that it ignores the court ruling and subverts local democratic processes. “The ANSAM, as the collective conscience of the Naga students and youth, strongly opposed such an ‘unconstitutional resolution’ and subsequent recommendation made by the HAC which will mark as one of the bad precedents in history.” The student body urged state leaders to “relook on the matter and take up immediate necessary actions in the right earnest, to empower its grassroots democracy, the hill areas (Autonomous District Council of Manipur) as per the spirit and intent of Article 371C and the presidential order, 1970 thereby ensures that the ADC is functional accordingly, as per the rule of law.”