GUWAHATI: Senior advocate Upamanyu Hazarika on Monday told Guwahati Times that the government is cheating people of Assam on clause 6 report.
Convener of Prabajan Virodhi Manch (PVM), Upamanyu Hazarika stated that the manner in which the state government keeps making self-contradictory statements clearly demonstrates that the entire exercise of protecting indigenous rights through the constitution of the Clause 6 committee is nothing but cheating the indigenous people.
The status of Clause 6 committee report once again became a topic of concern for the state after it was revealed that the committee report which was supposed to be sent to the Centre in February was still with the state government said Hazarika.
The matter came to light during the ongoing Parliament session which MP Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati raised questions about its status and sought the Centre’s reply.
Following the uproar in the state, the Centre has asked Assam government to engage legal and constitutional experts to examine the provisions of a report submitted by the committee. The decision was taken after a meeting on Sunday between Home minister Amit Shah and Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal at Shah’s house in Delhi. Assam’s Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was also present in the meeting.
“The committee was chaired by Justice Biplab Sarma former judge of the Gauhati High Court, the Advocate General of Assam Ramesh Borpatragohain and the Advocate General of Arunachal Pradesh Nilay Dutta being members. Are they not legal experts? Does the state government not consider its own Advocate General who is a Constitutional functionary to be a legal expert?” asked the senior lawyer.
Hazarika added that since the very beginning and at every stage, the senior leaders of the government have unfortunately only given false assurances to the people without any intention of fulfilling them.
“CM Sonowal said in March of this year itself that the report has been submitted to the Central government. It is clear from yesterday’s statement that yet another round of false assurances is being handed out to the indigenous people of the state,” Hazarika further said.
