Laxmikanth Summary: Scheduled and Tribal Areas | Indian Polity for UPSC CSE PDF Download

Article 244 in Part X of the Constitution establishes a special system for the administration of 'scheduled areas' and 'tribal areas.' The Fifth Schedule pertains to scheduled areas, excluding Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram, while the Sixth Schedule deals with tribal areas in these four northeastern states.

Scheduled and Tribal Areas

Administration of Scheduled Areas

The various features of administration contained in the Fifth Schedule are as follows:
1. Declaration of Scheduled Areas: The president is empowered to declare an area to be a scheduled area. He can also increase or decrease its area,

2. Executive Power of State and Centre: The executive power of a state extends to the scheduled areas therein. But the governor has a special responsibility regarding such areas. He has to submit a report to the president regarding the administration of such areas,

3. Tribes Advisory Council: Each state having scheduled areas has to establish a tribes advisory council to advise on the welfare and advancement of the scheduled tribes.

4. Law applicable to Scheduled Areas: The governor is empowered to direct that any particular act of Parliament or the state legislature does not apply to a scheduled area or apply with specified modifications and exceptions. He can also make regulations for the peace and good government of a scheduled area after consulting the tribes' advisory council.

5. Presidential Commission:  The Constitution requires the president to appoint a commission to report on the administration of the scheduled areas and the welfare of the scheduled tribes in the states. He can appoint such a commission at any time but compulsorily after ten years after the commencement of the Constitution.

Administration of Tribal Areas

The Constitution's Sixth Schedule provides special provisions for tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram. This distinction arises from the observation that tribes in these states have retained their unique cultural identity more than in other parts of India. As a result, significant autonomy is granted to these areas. Currently, there are ten tribal areas in the northeastern states.

The various features of administration contained in the Sixth Schedule are as follows:

1. The governor is empowered to organize and re-organize the autonomous districts. Thus, he can increase or decrease their areas change their names define their boundaries, and so on.
2. The district and regional councils administer the areas under their jurisdiction. They can make laws on certain specified matters like land, forests, canal water, shifting cultivation, village administration, inheritance of property, marriage and divorce, social customs, and so on.
3. The district and regional councils are empowered to assess and collect land revenue and to impose certain specified taxes.
4. The governor can appoint a commission to examine and report on any matter relating to the administration of the autonomous districts or regions. He may dissolve a district or regional council on the recommendation of the commission.