Assam govt still examining Clause 6 report: Governor

Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi on Thursday said the state is still examining the Centre’s report on the implementation of Clause 6 of Assam Accord, which had been submitted to it a year ago.

In his address on the inaugural day of the last session of this assembly, Mukhi said the union home ministry had constituted a high-level committee (HLC) headed by Justice Biplab Kumar Sarma for speedy implementation of Clause 6 of Assam Accord.

“The Committee has submitted its report and my government is examining the same from the legal point of view on the suggestions made,” he added. The HLC had submitted the report to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on February 25 last year for handing it to Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

In December 2020, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary had told the Assembly that the Assam government was yet to examine the report and was in the process of forming the legal committee, which was decided upon during a meeting between Shah and Sonowal in September last year.

Alleging that the state government was “sitting idle”, the All Assam Students” Union (AASU) and Arunachal Pradesh Advocate General Nilay Dutta, who were part of the committee, had on August 11, 2020 released the confidential report saying that the public has the right to know the contents. As per Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the culture, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.

The bone of contention since the signing of the Accord on August 15, 1985 has been the definition of Assamese people.

The committee had tried to fix the definition as the tribal, indigenous and all other Indian citizens residing within the territory of Assam as per the first schedule of the Constitution on or before January 1, 1951 along with their descendants. PTI