GNLF opposes Bista push for 3-tier polls

VIVEK CHHETRI, TT, 26 November 2019:  Darjeeling: The GNLF has objected to the Darjeeling BJP MP Raju Bista's plea for a constitutional amendment to reintroduce the three-tier panchayat system in the hills.

The MP had met Union minister of rural development Narendra Singh Tomar in Delhi on Wednesday and placed the plea before him.

With the launch of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, the Constitution was amended in 1988 to do away with the zilla parishad in the hills. As per Article 243M (3), only panchayat samitis and gram panchayats were allowed in the hills.

The amendment was made as the GNLF thought the zilla parishad would override the powers of the DGHC. On Monday, Mann Ghisingh, the president of the GNLF, an ally of the BJP, wrote to Bista "to register on record our strongest objections to" the plea. The GNLF leader said the very fact that Article 243 M had not been repealed or amended (to change the DGHC to the GTA) puts a "serious question on the constitutional validity and legality of GTA".

The GNLF had opposed the GTA and even filed a case in 2012 in Calcutta High Court challenging its constitutional validity. The case is pending.

In the letter, Mann has reminded Bista that he won the election on the plank of finding a "permanent political solution" and the MP should stick to that agenda..