“The ball is now in the Centre’s court,” says panel chairman

The high-powered committee that the Centre constituted in July 2019 for the implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord of 1985 submitted its report to the State’s Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday.

Barring three leaders of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), all the members of the panel headed by retired former Gauhati High Court Biplab Kumar Sarma were present at the event.

Clause 6 envisages constitutional, legislative and administrative measures to safeguard, protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people. It also seeks to ascertain who fits into the definition of an Assamese.

Also read | Constitutional safeguards for indigenous people a must: Assam students’ body

Mr. Sarma said the panel received a letter from Union Home Minister Amit Shah requesting the members to hand over the report to Mr. Sonowal on his behalf. The panel completed its report by February 15 and was expected to submit it to Mr. Shah in New Delhi more than a week ago.

“We received more than 1,200 memorandums, took the views of all communities across Assam and noted our observations for Constitutional safeguards of the indigenous people and for defining the Assamese people. The ball is now in the Centre’s court,” the panel’s chairman said, declining to reveal the contents of the report.

Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was with Mr. Sonowal at the time of receiving the report, said commenting on the report would be premature until the Centre minutely examined it and sought the views of the State government.

Also read | CAA will fix unresolved issues of Assam Accord: Himanta Biswa Sarma

“The State government has not been given a copy of the sealed report that will be submitted to the Centre today (Tuesday) evening or tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. Without seeing the report, it will be difficult to say if the government will accept the recommendations in entirety. We have to see if there is a recommendation that is against an order of the Supreme Court or it cannot be accepted by the Assembly,” he said.

The Centre, he added, was keen on implementing the recommendations provided they were within the ambit of the Constitution and the definition of Assamese was ratified by the Assembly.

“The committee has members with rich experience in administration. Their recommendations were perhaps within the Constitution and law. But the State government definitely has to discuss the definition of Assamese in the Assembly. It cannot be accepted without the approval of the Assembly. So, the matter has to be sent to the Assembly by the Centre,” the Finance Minister said.

The AASU’s chief advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya gave two reasons why the three members of the panel associated with the students’ body skipped the event. “By routing the report through the Assam government, the Centre has indicated it has lost enthusiasm about Clause 6. And while the report was being prepared, they brought in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act for the protection of Bangladeshis,” he said.

“The panel had a responsibility to submit the report with or without us. The job has been done,” he added.

The other AASU members of the panel are its president Dipanka Kumar Nath and general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi.

A government spokesperson said a controversy was being unnecessarily created over the submission of the report. “The CM is the head of the State administration. His chair has dignity. The Centre gave him a responsibility to accept the report on its behalf,” he said.