Nagaland Legislative Assembly introduces Nagaland Village and Tribal Councils (Fifth Amendment) Bill, 2022

Our Correspondent
Kohima, March 21 (EMN): On day two of the ongoing 11th session of the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA), Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio introduced the Nagaland Village and Tribal Councils (Fifth Amendment) Bill, 2022.

The Speaker of NLA, Sharingain Longumer announced that the two bills will be taken up on March 22 and pass the bills.

The Nagaland Village and Tribal Councils (Fifth Amendment) Bill, 2022 seeks to futher amend the Nagaland Village and Tribal Councils Act, 1978 and it will be extended to the whole of Nagaland.

 “The Village Councils in the State are constituted under the Nagaland Village and Tribal Councils Act, 1978 (hereinafter referred as the Act), and are governed by its provisions. On the basis of experiences gathered on various matters related to the functioning of the Village Councils, there has arisen a need for modifying and further clarifying certain provisions of the Act,” according to the objective and reasons for amendment.

It pointed out that there is a requirement for making changes in the qualification criteria for becoming a member of a village council so that the possibility of non-indigenous persons becoming a member is prevented along with those persons who are no more the permanent residents of the village.

There is also a need for coming up with clear provisions regarding the tenure of the councils as well as bringing out clearly that any dispute regarding its constitution shall be brought before the state government for resolution, it further stated.

Meanwhile, it maintained that the village councils have been functioning as customary courts, under the Rules of Administration of Justice and Police in Nagaland, 1937, as amended, but the enabling section in the Act was removed by an earlier amendment, and there is an expressed need for re-inserting this very important provision in the Act so that there is absolute clarity regarding the customary court powers of the village councils as well as of the higher appellate customary courts in the district.

Further, it added that the provision allowing the state government to frame rules for carrying out the purpose of the Act, which was there earlier deleted in one of the amendments, and it is vital that a provision giving clear powers to the state government to frame rules is inserted again in the Act.

Towards this, it claimed that the Bill seeks to achieve the above requirements and objectives.