The Sixth Schedule and Tribal Areas Explained

In the hills of Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Assam, a unique form of self-government has operated for decades under a little-known part of the Constitution. The Sixth Schedule creates Autonomous District Councils that can make laws on land, forests, village administration and social customs, and can even run their own courts. It is often described as a “mini-Constitution” for the tribal areas of the North East, because it gives tribal communities a degree of autonomy that is found nowhere else in the Indian federal system.

This explainer looks at how the Sixth Schedule came into being, which councils it covers, what powers they exercise, how the scheme differs from the Fifth Schedule that governs tribal areas elsewhere, and why demands to extend it to new regions keep surfacing in public debate. It also examines the practical difficulties the councils face in finance, administration and relations with state governments.

Quick Facts: The Sixth Schedule

Origins of the Sixth Schedule

The roots of the scheme lie in the debates of the Constituent Assembly. The hill peoples of the North East had lived for centuries under their own chiefs and customary councils. During British rule many of these areas were treated as “excluded” or “partially excluded” areas, kept at some distance from the regular administration. When the Constitution was being drafted, the question was how to protect their identity, land and culture while bringing them into the Indian Union.

The Assembly appointed the North-East Frontier (Assam) Tribal and Excluded Areas Sub-Committee, chaired by Gopinath Bardoloi, the Premier of Assam. After surveying the hill districts and consulting tribal leaders, the committee recommended a system of district and regional councils with legislative, judicial and administrative powers. The recommendations became the Sixth Schedule, which was adopted with the Constitution and came into force on 26 January 1950.

The Original Scope

The Schedule originally covered the tribal districts of undivided Assam, which then included the Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills, Garo Hills, Lushai Hills, Naga Hills, North Cachar Hills and the Mikir Hills. Over time, as new states and union territories were carved out of Assam, the arrangement was adjusted. Nagaland, with its special provisions under Article 371A, moved outside the Sixth Schedule framework, while Meghalaya and Mizoram retained their autonomous districts after statehood.

Constitutional Provisions: Article 244 and Article 275

Article 244 of the Constitution deals with the administration of Scheduled Areas and tribal areas. Clause (1) applies the Fifth Schedule to Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in all states except Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. Clause (2) applies the Sixth Schedule to the tribal areas of those four states. The two Schedules therefore divide the country’s tribal regions into two separate administrative systems.

Article 275(1) provides for grants-in-aid from the Union to states for the welfare of Scheduled Tribes and for raising the level of administration in Scheduled Areas, including the tribal areas covered by the Sixth Schedule. The Schedule itself also gives the district councils the power to assess and collect revenue, but their own resources are small, so central grants matter greatly.

Article 244A and Related Provisions

Article 244A, inserted in 1969, allows Parliament to create an autonomous state within Assam comprising certain tribal areas, with its own legislature or Council of Ministers. This provision was meant to meet demands from hill communities in Assam, though it has not been used in full. Other special provisions for the North East, such as Articles 371A, 371B, 371C, 371F and 371G, address the specific circumstances of Nagaland, Assam, Manipur, Sikkim and Mizoram, and sit alongside, not within, the Sixth Schedule.

The Autonomous District Councils

The Governor of the state is given the authority to organise and reorganise autonomous districts. He may include or exclude areas, create new autonomous districts, increase or decrease the area of an existing district, or alter its name or boundaries. Where there are different Scheduled Tribes in an autonomous district, the Governor may divide the area into autonomous regions, each with its own Regional Council.

Every autonomous district has a District Council of not more than thirty members. Not more than four members are nominated by the Governor, and the rest are elected on the basis of adult suffrage. The term of an elected council is five years, which the Governor can extend by up to a year at a time while a national Emergency is in operation. The councils are bodies corporate, with perpetual succession and a common seal.

The Ten Councils at a Glance

The Bodoland Territorial Council was created in 2003 after an accord with Bodo representatives, giving the Bodo-majority areas of western Assam a council under the Sixth Schedule. The Tripura council, set up in 1982 under a state law, was brought within the Sixth Schedule by the 49th Amendment in 1984. In Mizoram, the Chakma, Lai and Mara councils represent minority tribal communities within a state in which the Mizo people form the majority.

Legislative Powers of the Councils

The legislative authority of the councils is set out in paragraph 3 of the Schedule. District and regional councils can make laws on a list of subjects that concern the daily life of tribal communities. These laws require the assent of the Governor before they take effect, which keeps them within the constitutional framework.

• Allotment, occupation or use of land, and setting apart land for agriculture, grazing or residential and other non-agricultural purposes, other than reserved forests.
• Management of any forest not being a reserved forest.
• Use of any canal or watercourse for agriculture.
• Regulation of the practice of jhum or other forms of shifting cultivation.
• Establishment of village or town committees or councils and their powers.
• Appointment or succession of chiefs or headmen.
• Inheritance of property, marriage and divorce, and social customs.
• Any other matter relating to village or town administration, including village and town police and public health and sanitation.

Subjects Held Back From the Councils

The councils do not have a free hand. Reserved forests remain under state control, and laws of Parliament and of the state legislature apply in the autonomous districts only as the Governor directs by public notification. The Governor may also direct that such laws apply with exceptions and modifications. Where a council’s law conflicts with a state law on the same subject, the structure of the Schedule, and the specific variations for each state, determine which prevails.

Judicial Powers: Village Councils and Courts

One of the most distinctive features of the Sixth Schedule is the power given to councils to constitute their own courts. Under paragraph 4, the District Council or Regional Council may constitute village councils or courts for trying suits and cases between parties who are all members of Scheduled Tribes within the area, other than cases punishable with death, transportation for life or imprisonment for five years or more.

These bodies apply customary law in many matters, and an appeal lies to the District Council court and then to the High Court, which has jurisdiction as specified by the Governor. The system recognises that tribal communities have long settled disputes through their own institutions, such as the dorbar in the Khasi Hills or the village court in Garo and Mizo society, and gives these institutions a constitutional footing.

Limits on the Judicial Role

• The courts have jurisdiction only where both parties are Scheduled Tribe members.
• Serious criminal offences, punishable with death or long imprisonment, are excluded.
• The High Court retains the power of review, in the manner the Governor specifies.
• Suits and cases that involve non-tribals are dealt with by the regular courts.

Executive and Financial Powers

The councils have extensive executive and developmental responsibilities. Under paragraph 6, a District Council may establish, construct or manage primary schools, dispensaries, markets, cattle pounds, ferries, fisheries, roads, road transport and waterways in the district. It may also prescribe the language and manner in which primary education is to be imparted. The councils are thus a form of rural local government with considerably more autonomy than an ordinary panchayat.

On finance, each council maintains a District Fund into which all money received is credited. Under paragraph 8, the councils are empowered to assess and collect land revenue and to impose certain taxes. These include taxes on professions, trades, callings and employments, on animals, vehicles and boats, on the entry of goods into a market, and for the maintenance of schools, dispensaries or roads. Paragraph 9 gives them a share of royalties from licences or leases for the extraction of minerals in the district, to be determined by agreement with the state government.

Control Over Money-Lending and Trade

Paragraph 10 allows the councils to make regulations for the control of money-lending and trading by non-tribals within the district. Moneylenders and traders must obtain licences from the council, and the aim is to prevent the exploitation of tribal people that was common before independence.

Land, Forests and Customary Law

For tribal communities, land and forest are not merely economic resources but the basis of social and cultural life. In many Sixth Schedule areas, community ownership of land is the norm, with clans or villages holding land that is allocated to families for cultivation. The councils’ power over land allocation, shifting cultivation and non-reserved forests allows them to protect these customary tenure systems from sale and alienation to outsiders.

The same principle is reflected in the powers of regulating inheritance, marriage, divorce and social customs. In matrilineal societies such as the Khasi and Garo communities of Meghalaya, for example, the councils can legislate in a way that is consistent with the community’s own custom. This is a significant difference from the position elsewhere in India, where personal laws are generally uniform statutes passed by Parliament or state legislatures.

Where the Protection Is Weaker

The protection is not absolute. Land in urban areas, such as parts of Shillong, may be held under different tenures, and conflicts can arise between council laws and state or Union laws that apply to major projects, mining or forest conservation. The extent of the councils’ control varies from district to district, depending on local legislation and the working of the state government’s departments.

Sixth Schedule Versus Fifth Schedule

The Fifth Schedule covers Scheduled Areas in states such as Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, whereas the Sixth Schedule covers the four North Eastern states named earlier. The difference lies in the degree of autonomy. The Fifth Schedule works through the Governor and a Tribes Advisory Council, within the existing state structure. The Sixth Schedule creates self-governing councils with their own legislative and judicial powers.

The Fifth Schedule is also supplemented by a central statute, the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, which empowers gram sabhas in Scheduled Areas.

Powers of the Governor and the Union

Although the councils are autonomous, the Schedule keeps a system of supervision. The Governor’s assent is needed for council laws, and the Governor may by notification direct that a law passed by the state legislature or Parliament does not apply to an autonomous district. Under paragraph 14, the Governor may appoint a commission to examine and report on the administration of autonomous districts, including whether the councils’ powers are adequate.

The Governor can also annul or suspend acts and resolutions of a council if they are likely to endanger the safety of India. On the report of a commission, the Governor may dissolve a District Council, with the approval of the state legislature, and appoint administrators or order fresh elections. These provisions give the state and the Union considerable control over the councils, and critics say that they sometimes weaken the very autonomy that the Schedule promises.

Challenges Faced by the Councils

Observers who study the working of the Sixth Schedule frequently point to several problems. Chief among them is finance. The councils’ own sources of revenue are limited, and they depend on grants from the state and the Union. Delays in release of funds and the lack of an independent financial commission for the councils restrict their capacity to deliver services.

• Elections and tenures: Council elections have at times been postponed, leaving bodies without elected leadership.
• Overlapping authority: State departments and councils sometimes disagree about who controls particular subjects.
• Capacity: Many councils have limited technical staff and weak accounting systems.
• Representation: Non-tribal residents in some districts, who may form a considerable part of the population, have limited political voice in the councils.
• Intra-tribal tensions: Smaller communities within an autonomous district sometimes feel that the dominant tribe controls the council.

Over the years, committees and commissions have recommended financial devolution and a clearer allocation of functions, and proposals for constitutional amendments, including a bill introduced in Parliament in 2019, have aimed to strengthen the councils. The central idea behind these proposals is to give the councils a recognised source of funds and more executive powers.

Demands to Extend the Sixth Schedule

Other tribal regions have long sought the status of the Sixth Schedule. The most prominent recent demand has come from Ladakh, which became a Union Territory in 2019. Leaders there have asked for Sixth Schedule protection to safeguard land, jobs and culture, as the region has a large tribal population. Ladakh’s hill councils in Leh and Kargil exist under a separate law, and supporters argue that the Constitution should give them stronger safeguards.

Demands have also arisen in other places, including tribal areas outside the North East, such as parts of Jharkhand and Odisha, and areas within the North East that are not covered by the Schedule, such as the hill districts of Manipur, which have a different arrangement under Article 371C. The extension of the Schedule requires a constitutional amendment passed by Parliament, because the list of areas is part of the Schedule itself.

Arguments On Both Sides

• Supporters say that it protects land, culture and identity, and gives tribal people a say in decisions that affect them.
• Sceptics point to the difficulties of existing councils, including weak finances and overlaps with state governments.
• Some argue that other models, such as strengthening panchayats in Scheduled Areas, may suit communities with a different pattern of settlement.

Conclusion

The Sixth Schedule represents one of the most inventive experiments in Indian constitutional design. By granting tribal communities the authority to legislate on land and customs, to run their own courts and to manage local services, it acknowledges that cultural diversity can be protected through self-government. Its ten Autonomous District Councils have preserved customary institutions in a region where identity and land are closely linked.

At the same time, the experience of the councils shows that autonomy needs resources, clear rules and cooperation between councils and state governments. The continuing demand for its extension to new regions reflects both the appeal of the model and the unfinished work of making it function well.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which states are covered by the Sixth Schedule?

The Sixth Schedule covers the tribal areas of four states: Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. These areas are organised into ten autonomous districts, each governed by an Autonomous District Council. Article 244(2) of the Constitution is the basis of this arrangement.

What powers do Autonomous District Councils have?

The councils can make laws, with the Governor’s assent, on subjects such as land, non-reserved forests, shifting cultivation, village administration, inheritance, marriage and social customs. They can also set up village courts, run primary schools, markets and roads, and levy certain taxes. They receive a share of mineral royalties from the state.

How does the Sixth Schedule differ from the Fifth Schedule?

The Fifth Schedule applies to Scheduled Areas in states other than the four North Eastern states, and works through the Governor and a Tribes Advisory Council. The Sixth Schedule creates self-governing councils with their own legislative, executive and judicial powers. It therefore gives a greater degree of autonomy.

Who recommended the Sixth Schedule?

The scheme was recommended by the North-East Frontier (Assam) Tribal and Excluded Areas Sub-Committee of the Constituent Assembly, chaired by Gopinath Bardoloi. It is therefore often called the Bardoloi Committee. The Schedule came into force along with the Constitution on 26 January 1950.

Why do some regions demand inclusion in the Sixth Schedule?

Communities in regions such as Ladakh seek the Schedule to protect their land, culture and employment opportunities through a constitutionally guaranteed form of self-government. Extending it requires a constitutional amendment by Parliament. The debate also involves questions about how well existing councils function.

Can a Governor dissolve an Autonomous District Council?

Yes, but only under the conditions laid down in the Schedule. On the recommendation of a commission appointed to inquire into the administration of the district, the Governor may dissolve a council. The decision is subject to approval of the state legislature, and fresh elections or administration arrangements follow.