Sikkim: Joint Action Council appoints Keshav Sapkota as new interim president

Sikkim's civil society organization Joint Action Council gets its new interim President Keshav Sapkota. 

The newly appointed President will be now responsible for conducting elections soonest possible to elect a new president to further take future courses of action of the body. 

It was decided today during the annual general meeting which was held in a local resort at Sarmsa. Earlier, Keshav Sapkota was brutally beaten by a mob at Singtam during a peace rally.  

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The Joint Action Council (JAC) has been advocating for the protection of Sikkimese identity and core issues ever since the Supreme Court's judgment relating to Income Tax in favour of the Association of Old Settlers of Sikkim (AOSS) regarding the exemption of tax and in judgement Sikkim's majority Nepali community was referred as 'foreigner' early this year. 

Also, Sikkimese people with COI and Sikkim Subject are exempted from paying taxes under section 10(26AAA) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and AOSS is the organization of the business community and old settlers of Sikkim but doesn't pose COI or Sikkim Subject. 

On the issue JAC has also successfully able to organised a day-long bandh on the issue which was a great success and following that JAC has raised various issues like implementation of the Uniform Civil Code(UCC), New Income Tax Act and many other issues.