THE FATE OF CLAUSE SIX OF ASSAM ACCORD

Finally the high-level committee (HLC) constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs in respect of the implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord submitted its report to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on 25th February.

- Kishor Kumar Kalita

Although as per the Notification (No11012/04/2019-NE.VI) which constituted the committee, it obliged to submit its report to the concerned Ministry, but the Ministry did not express any willingness to receive it. On February 10, the 14-member high-powered committee had finalised its report. It is about 91 pages long and was supposed to be submitted to the Union Home Minister Amit Shah on February 11, four days before the committee’s term expired.

However, Amit Shah did not give time to the committee members to receive their report. This raised doubt about the Union Government’s intention in regard to the implementation of the Assam Accord.

The notification has mentioned six tasks as terms of reference for the committee that includes

a) The Committee will examine the effectiveness of actions taken since 1985 to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord (The Clause 6 of the Assam Accord pledges to provide constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people).

(b) The Committee will hold discussions with various stakeholders including social organizations, legal and constitutional experts, and eminent persons from the field of art, culture and literature, conservationists, economists, linguists and sociologists.