3 tiers back in hills, but what next

Chungthung, July 24: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha is not sure how the three-tier panchayat system will be put in place in the hills despite its provisions in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

Bimal Gurung’s outfit, the Morcha, is one of the three signatories to the memorandum of agreement that will set up the GTA for the Darjeeling hills.

Since the Constitution has no provision for setting up two zilla parishads in the same district, the Morcha is unsure about how the new system would be implemented in Darjeeling district where the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad is equivalent to the zilla parishad. The rest of Darjeeling district, according to the constitutional amendment of 1992, has a two-tier panchayat system.

The Morcha’s Darjeeling MLA Trilok Dewan today told party workers at Chungthung: “One of the biggest achievement for the hill people in the agreement is the revival of the three-tier panchayat system.”

But Dewan, too, was not sure how the provisions would be worked out. “We have to carefully look into how the implementation process would be carried out — when the bill for the GTA will be passed in the Assembly and an Act enacted. We have to see if the government will abolish the Mahakuma Parishad or will create a different district out of Siliguri to make way for the implementation of the three-tier system,” said Dewan.

However, the MLA was happy that the three-tier system had been agreed upon. “This provision of the agreement proves that the GTA is higher than the zilla parishad and it may be noted that only a Union Territory or a state is higher than the zilla parishad in the country. That the government is not being able to spell out the inclusion of three-tier system is an indication that the GTA is almost like a Union Territory,” said Dewan.

The Constitution was amended in 1992 after the DGHC under Subash Ghisingh was set up. Ghisingh was of the opinion that the functions of the zilla parishad would overlap with that of the council. Later, he had opposed even the existence of the two-tier system, which ultimately ceased to exist from 2006.

Lawyers in Darjeeling felt that a three-tier system would mean that the Constitution would have to be amended again. “It is now a political decision. If political parties decide on amending the Constitution, it would not be very difficult,” said a lawyer. However, the lawyer admitted that the major problem for the Mamata Banerjee government— another signatory along with the Centre and the Morcha to the GTA agreement — will be the Mahakuma Parishad. “Since the GTA will not involve the entire Darjeeling district… It will have to be an administrative as well as a political decision to clear the path for the implementation of the three-tier system in the hills,” the lawyer added.

At Chungthung, 26km from here, 370 people who once owed allegiance to the CPRM, GNLF and the CPM today joined the Morcha. Party president Gurung handed them party flags at a ceremony.