Sikkim politicos divided over move on NEC status

However, the Sikkim Sangram Parishad (SSP) and a host of other Opposition parties apprehend that Sikkim’s inclusion in the NEC and its new “status” would dilute the rights and privileges it enjoys under Article 371(F) of the Constitution. The clause was inserted in the Constitution when the State became a part of the Indian Union in April 1975. Former chief minister and SSP supremo Nar Bahadur Bhandari had written to the President regarding his party’s apprehension on the dilution of Article 371(F) ifSikkim was included in the NEC. Copies of his letter were released to the press here.

In response, the Union Home Ministry has set at rest the Opposition leader’s misgiving by stating that it was “the government of India’s decision to include Sikkim as a member of the NEC. The North-Eastern Council Act (NECA) 1971, would need to be amended and the requisite bill in this regard would be brought before Parliament.” The Centre also assured that it had no intention to “make any changes” in Article 371(F) of the Constitution which safeguards the rights and privileges of the people of Sikkim, a Home Ministry communique added.

Meanwhile, the State Government also sought “expert” opinion on the subject from the Solicitor Gneral of India N Santosh Hedge. On the question of whether the provision of Article 371(F) would be diluted in any manner with Sikkim’s inclusion in the NEC, the solicitor general said, “The provision of the Constitution could not be over-ridden by any other legislative enactment, unlessthe Constitution itself says so.”

The solicitor general further said, “the NECA, 1970 does not control any of the rights and protection of Sikkim subjects who are now citizens of India. Even otherwise, their rights are protected under the special provisions of Article 371(F) of the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court in 1994.”

Hedge further added that old Sikkim laws protected under Article 371(F) (K) of the Constitution would be intact. He said according to the history and background of Sikkim, becoming part of Indian Union by the inclusion of Article 371(F), was a special provision for protecting the existing laws made in Clause (K) of the Article. The old Sikkim laws were given further protection from “challenge” based on violation of the ordinary Constitutional provision.

The Solicitor General clarified that the provisions of the NECA do not in any manner relate to or “override” the provision of any of Sikkim’s existing laws. “So the decision of the NEC cannot in any mannereither directly or remotely affect the laws of the State.”

Notwithstanding the State government’s claims that Article 371(F) will not be affected by Sikkim’s inclusion in the NEC, former State law minister and Opposition MLA, Khada Nanda Upreti said, “What is being opposed and debated is not the immediate snapping of Article 371(F), but the gradual dilution and erosion of the spirit of the Article so as to cause its natural death in the years to come.”

In a release the former law minister in the Nar Bahadur Bhandari ministry said, “It is not clear as to whom an effort is being made to befool as none has ever claimed that Article 371(F) would be altered or amended.”