Agartala: The winter session of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (ADC) on Wednesday unanimously passed the bill for raising a separate police force under its administrative jurisdiction – District Council Police Service Rules, which will function independently.
Deputy Chief Executive Member of ADC Animesh Debbarma said after a detailed discussion on the bill during the 10 days session the bill was passed without any opposition.
“The members agreed to the proposition of the requirement and decided to raise ADC’s own police for guarding the public properties and maintaining law and order situation in ADC areas besides state police.”
He, however, ruled out the possibility of a conflict of interest in functioning and administration.
The ADC Police bill was first tabled in the house in the year 1994 when TUJS was in power with Congress. The bill was subsequently passed and, in the year, 1997, the Bill got the much-required governor’s assent.
Unfortunately, for the last 24 years, many political parties governed the ADC but no one made the effort to formulate the Police Service Rules, Debbarman observed.
When ADC received the assent from the Governor, ADC was advised to formulate the service rules by either convening a special session of ten days or discussing the matter in the council session at least for ten days cumulatively, but no party took the initiative.
Although the service rules do not require the state government’s approval, ADC needs funding for raising the police force.
“Unless the government doesn’t allocate funds, the process of recruitment can not be started. We are surprised by the attitude of the state government – they are not even releasing the sanctioned budget of the ADC till the third quarter of the financial year, instead, they are raising all wild allegations of corruption against us.
The ruling BJP lost its ground because of flouting the poll promises, large-scale corruption by its leaders, and anti-social activities by BJP cadres,” Debbarma pointed out.
The main purpose of setting up its police force is multi-pronged – on one hand, it provides employment who want to serve in the police; on the other, it will bring the public properties, offices, and other establishments of public interest under security cover with the dedicated police force to further boost the confidence of the citizens, he attributed.
The session has also passed as many as 14 customary laws and Village Council Conduct (Amendment) bills enabling the indigenous communities to regulate the society under traditional customs and to run the elected bodies of the villages under ADC.
Tripura is the home of as many as 19 distinct tribes, having their unique custom, culture, and tradition. The communities also have their customary laws and social practices, which the state government has been codifying to accept in the court of law in socio-cultural and traditional issues.
Earlier, ADC had passed the Bru customary law and forwarded the matter for codification to the state government, but it was yet to be finalized.
