Sixth Schedule to the Constitution (Amendment) Act, 20031
| [Act 44 of 2003] | [7th September, 2003] |
[Repealed by Act 19 of 2015*]
An Act further to amend the Constitution of India in its application to the State of Assam
Be it enacted by Parliament in the Fifty-fourth Year of the Republic of India as follows:-
1 Received the assent of the President on 7-9-2003 and published in the Gazette of India, Extra., Part II, Section 1, dated 8-9-2003, pp. 1-4, No. 48.
* Ed.: Act 44 of 2003 repealed by Act 19 of 2015, S. 2 & Sch. I. See also S. 4 of the Repealing and Amending Act, 2015:
"4. Savings.- The repeal by this Act of any enactment shall not affect any Act in which such enactment has been applied, incorporated or referred to;
and this Act shall not affect the validity, invalidity, effect or consequences of anything already done or suffered, or any right, title, obligation or liability already acquired, accrued or incurred, or any remedy or proceeding in respect thereof, or any release or discharge of or from any debt, penalty, obligation, liability, claim or demand, or any indemnity already granted, or the proof of any past act or thing;
nor shall this Act affect any principle or rule of law, or established jurisdiction, form or course of pleading, practice or procedure, or existing usage, custom, privilege, restriction, exemption, office or appointment, notwithstanding that the same respectively may have been in any manner affirmed, recognised or derived by, in or from any enactment hereby repealed;
nor shall the repeal by this Act of any enactment provide or restore any jurisdiction, office, custom, liability, right, title, privilege, restriction, exemption, usage, practice, procedure or other matter or thing not now existing or in force."
Prefatory Note-Statement of Objects and Reasons.-The provisions of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution have evolved a separate scheme for the governance of the tribal areas in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura through the District Councils or Regional Councils. There are three parts in the Table appended to the Schedule. They are so divided in order to distinguish the Areas. The Areas in Part I represent the Tribal Areas of Assam. Each of these Areas constitutes an "autonomous district". The provisions in Paragraphs 1 to 17 of the Sixth Schedule relate to the Administration of these autonomous districts. The Councils are vested with legislative powers on specified subjects and are allotted sources of taxation. They have also been given powers to set up and administer their system of justice and maintain administrative and welfare services in respect of land, revenue, forests, education, public health etc.
2. The Bodo Accord was signed on February 20, 1993 with All Bodo Students' Union and Bodo People's Action Committee, with the objective to provide maximum autonomy to the Bodos within the framework of the Constitution for their social, economic, educational and cultural advancement. In pursuance to the Bodo Accord, an Interim Bodoland Autonomous Council (BAC) was constituted by the Government of Assam by enacting State Legislation. Bodo groups were of the view that Bodo Accord had become unworkable due to non-implementation of the Accord in letter and spirit. Based on the tripartite talks, a Memorandum of Settlement (MOS) has been signed between the Central Government, the Government of Assam and Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) on 10-2-2003 for a durable solution to the Bodo issues.
3. To meet the aspirations of the Bodos in Assam and in pursuance of the MOS, it is proposed to-
(i) create an autonomous self-governing body to be known as the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) within the State of Assam, which shall have legislative, administrative and financial powers in respect of specified subjects;
(ii) provide for adequate safeguards for the non-tribals in the BTC area to ensure that they are not put to any disadvantage in relation to any rights and privileges including land rights presently enjoyed by them at the commencement of BTC.
4. The Bill seeks to achieve the above objects.
1. Short title.-This Act may be called the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution (Amendment) Act, 2003.
2. Amendment of Sixth Schedule to the Constitution.-The Sixth Schedule to the Constitution shall, in its application to the State of Assam, have effect subject to the following modifications, namely:-
(1) In Paragraph 1, after sub-paragraph (2), the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:-
"Provided that nothing in this sub-paragraph shall apply to the Bodoland Territorial Areas District.";
(2) In Paragraph 2, after sub-paragraph (1), the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:-
"Provided that the Bodoland Territorial Council shall consist of not more than forty-six members of whom forty shall be elected on the basis of adult suffrage, of whom thirty shall be reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, five for non-tribal communities, five open for all communities and the remaining six shall be nominated by the Governor having same rights and privileges as other members, including voting rights, from amongst the un-represented communities of the Bodoland Territorial Areas District, of which at least two shall be women.";
(3) In Paragraph 2, in sub-paragraph (3), after the proviso, the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:-
"Provided further that the District Council constituted for the Bodoland Territorial Areas District shall be called the Bodoland Territorial Council.";
(4) In Paragraph 3, for sub-paragraph (3), the following sub-paragraph shall be substituted, namely:-
" (3) Save as otherwise provided in sub-paragraph (2) of Paragraph 3-A or sub-paragraph (2) of Paragraph 3-B, all laws made under this paragraph or sub-paragraph (1) of Paragraph 3-A or sub-paragraph (1) of Paragraph 3-B shall be submitted forthwith to the Governor and, until assented to by him, shall have no effect.";
(5) After Paragraph 3-A, the following paragraph shall be inserted, namely:-
"3-B. Additional powers of the Bodoland Territorial Council to make laws.- (1) Without prejudice to the provisions of Paragraph 3, the Bodoland Territorial Council within its areas shall have power to make laws with respect to:- (i) Agriculture, including agricultural education and research, protection against pests and prevention of plant diseases; (ii) Animal husbandry and veterinary, that is to say, preservation, protection and improvement of stock and prevention of animal diseases, veterinary training and practice, cattle pounds; (iii) Co-operation; (iv) Cultural affairs; (v) Education, that is to say, primary education, higher secondary including vocational training, adult education, college education (general); (vi) Fisheries; (vii) Flood control for protection of village, paddy fields, markets and towns (not of technical nature); (viii) Food and civil supply; (ix) Forests (other than reserved forests); (x) Handloom and textile; (xi) Health and family welfare, (xii) Intoxicating liquors, opium and derivatives, subject to the provisions of Entry 84 of List I of the Seventh Schedule; (xiii) Irrigation; (xiv) Labour and employment; (xv) Land and Revenue; (xvi) Library services (financed and controlled by the State Government); (xvii) Lotteries (subject to the provisions of Entry 40 of List I of the Seventh Schedule), theatres, dramatic performances and cinemas (subject to the provisions of Entry 60 of List I of the Seventh Schedule); (xviii) Markets and fairs; (xix) Municipal corporation, improvement trust, district boards and other local authorities; (xx) Museum and archaeology institutions controlled or financed by the State, ancient and historical monuments and records other than those declared by or under any law made by Parliament to be of national importance; (xxi) Panchayat and rural development; (xxii) Planning and development; (xxiii) Printing and stationery; (xxiv) Public health engineering; (xxv) Public works department; (xxvi) Publicity and public relations; (xxvii) Registration of births and deaths; (xxviii) Relief and rehabilitation; (xxix) Sericulture; (xxx) Small, cottage and rural industry subject to the provisions of Entries 7 and 52 of List I of the Seventh Schedule; (xxxi) Social welfare; (xxxii) Soil conservation; (xxxiii) Sports and youth welfare; (xxxiv) Statistics; () Tourism; (xxxvi) Transport (roads, bridges, ferries and other means of communications not specified in List I of the Seventh Schedule, municipal tramways, ropeways, inland waterways and traffic thereon subject to the provision of List I and List III of the Seventh Schedule with regard to such waterways, vehicles other than mechanically propelled vehicles); (xxxvii) Tribal research institute controlled and financed by the State Government; (xxxviii) Urban Development - town and country planning; (xxxix) Weight and measures subject to the provisions of Entry 50 of List I of the Seventh Schedule; and (xl) Welfare of plain tribes and backward classes:
Provided that nothing in such laws shall-
(a) extinguish or modify the existing rights and privileges of any citizen in respect of his land at the date of commencement of this Act; and
(b) disallow and citizen from acquiring land either by way of inheritance, allotment, settlement or by any other way of transfer if such citizen is otherwise eligible for such acquisition of land within the Bodoland Territorial Areas District;
(2) All laws made under Paragraph 3 or under this paragraph shall insofar as they relate to matters specified in List III of the Seventh Schedule, be submitted forthwith to the Governor who shall reserve the same for the consideration of the President;
(3) When a law is reserved for the consideration of the President, the President shall declare either that he assents to the said law or that he withholds assent therefrom:
Provided that the President may direct the Governor to return the law to the Bodoland Territorial Council, together with the message requesting that the said Council will reconsider the law or any specified provisions thereof and, in particular, will consider the desirability of introducing any such amendments as he may recommend in his message and, when the law is so returned, the said Council shall consider the law accordingly within a period of six months from the date of receipt of such message and, if the law is again passed by the said Council with or without amendments it shall be presented again to the President for his consideration.";
(6) In Paragraph 4, after sub-paragraph (5), the following sub-paragraph shall be inserted, namely:-
" (6) Nothing in this paragraph shall apply to the Bodoland Territorial Council constituted under the proviso to sub-paragraph (3) of Paragraph 2 of this Schedule.";
(7) In Paragraph 10, after sub-paragraph (3), the following sub-paragraph shall be inserted, namely:-
" (4) Nothing in this paragraph shall apply to the Bodoland Territorial Council constituted under the proviso to sub-paragraph (3) of Paragraph 2 of this Schedule.";
(8) In Paragraph 12, in sub-paragraph (1), in Clause (a), for the words, figures and letter "matters specified in Paragraph 3 or Paragraph 3-A of this Schedule", the words, figures and letters "matters specified in Paragraph 3 or Paragraph 3-A or Paragraph 3-B of this Schedule" shall be substituted;
(9) In Paragraph 17, the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:-
"Provided that nothing in this paragraph shall apply to the Bodoland Territorial Areas District.";
(10) In Paragraph 19, after sub-paragraph (3), the following sub-paragraph shall be inserted, namely:-
" (4) As soon as possible after the commencement of this Act, an Interim Executive Council for Bodoland Territorial Areas District in Assam shall be formed by the Governor from amongst leaders of the Bodo movement, including the signatories to the Memorandum of Settlement, and shall provide adequate representation to the non-tribal communities in that area:
Provided that the Interim Council shall be for a period of six months during which endeavour to hold the election to the Council shall be made.
Explanation.-For the purposes of this sub-paragraph, the expression "Memorandum of Settlement" means the Memorandum signed on the 10th day of February, 2003 between Government of India, Government of Assam and Bodo Liberation Tigers.";
(11) In Paragraph 20, in Part I of the Table, after Entry 2, the following entry shall be inserted, namely:-
"3. The Bodoland Territorial Areas District.".