Former judge of Madhya Pradesh High Court Justice (Retired) Mool Chand Garg has been appointed Chairman of the Expert Committee constituted by the Meghalaya government for reviewing the state reservation policy.

The reservation policy which mandated reservation of 40 per cent each for Khasi and Garo tribals, 15 per cent for other backward tribes and 5 per cent for the open category was proposed to be reviewed following demands of some organisations in the Khasi Hills region citing their population.

The name of Garg and four other members of the Expert Committee was approved by the state Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Friday.

Former Judge of Allahabad High Court Justice (Retired) Dr Satish Chandra was also appointed as an expert member in Constitutional law of the committee. Justice Chandra is also a former president of the Custom, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal.

The other three expert members are Prof D V Kumar from the Department of Sociology, NEHU, Shillong as expert member in Sociology, Prof Chander Shekhar from Department of Fertility and Social Demography, Indian Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai as expert member in population studies and Prof Subhadip Mukherjee, Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Policy in IIM, Shillong as expert member in Economics.

Meghalaya Cabinet Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh said that the terms of reference of the expert committee will be to study the current reservation policy and recommend modifications, if necessary and to undertake wide-ranging consultations with all stakeholders and visit various locations of the state to solicit the views of all stakeholders.

The expert committee has been asked to submit its report to the Meghalaya government within 12 months, she added.

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