The ongoing tussle between Jharkhand governor Ramesh Bais and chief minister Hemant Soren seems to be growing with a letter from Raj Bhavan questioning the holding of the Tribal Advisory Council (TAC) meeting a week ago.

The letter in Hindi issued by principal secretary to governor Nitin Madan Kulkarni on Tuesday evening addressed to the Jharkhand chief secretary Sukhdev Singh has raised concern and objection on the TAC meeting held recently (November 23) without complying with the earlier directives issued by Bais on the TAC constitution.

The letter also asks the government to furnish status of compliance with the earlier directives along with reasons for the delay in compliance with the directives. Significantly, on June 7, 2021, Soren-led state government notified ‘Jharkhand Tribes Advisory Council Rules, 2021’ which amended the rules for constituting the TAC — an advisory body that deliberates and helps the government about issues related to tribes and their development in scheduled areas mentioned in the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution.

Thirteen of the 24 districts of the state are classified as scheduled areas.

The notification transferred the power of constituting TAC from the office of the governor to the chief minister. Accordingly, the state government on June 22, 2021, reconstituted the TAC with the chief minister as ex-officio chairman and the state tribal affairs minister as the deputy chairperson.

Fifteen MLAs, including three from the opposition BJP, are also a part of the TAC, besides three experts from the scheduled tribes (ST) community. Bais, who took over from his predecessor Droupadi Murmu on July 14, 2021, had sought the related file.

The governor returned the file in February this year with a detailed 13-page observation along with suggestions for action in future.

The Jharkhand government had sent the file related to TAC formation to Raj Bhavan for approval.

Raj Bhavan had returned it calling it unconstitutional and directed necessary amendments to it. It had directed that at least two members should be nominated by the Raj Bhavan in the formation of the TAC. Apart from this, governor approval was necessary on the rules under the fifth schedule.

The state government did not make any amendment to it and called a meeting of TAC. As officials in the CM secretariat maintained silence. JMM central general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya claimed nothing wrong with the TAC new constitution.

“Jharkhand has amended new rules regarding the constitution of TAC, the members will be appointed only with the approval of the chief minister,” asked Supriyo Bhattacharya who is also the party spokesperson.