By Toki Blah
The High Court of Meghalaya through Justice SR Sen had recently delivered a judgement on a petition filed by a group of citizens ostracized (shah beh shnong) by the Rangbah Shnong/ village President / Secretary Dorbar of Pamrakmai village, East Jaintia Hills. The court took a dim view of such unlawful and highhanded action taken under the garb of customary practice. Customary practices, if proved ultra vires to statuary law, are illegal activities. Through its direction the complainants were allowed to return to their village and their rights of residency restored. An apology was extracted from the erring village officials and they were let off with a strong warning on not to repeat such offences in the future. Such a ruling was not unexpected but for the purpose of this essay the observation and direction of the court on the legal status; role and functions of the Rangbah Shnong as an entity, is of public interest that demands further discussion in the public domain.
In brief the observations of the court are as follows. (a) Rangbah Shnongs or Traditional Headmen play an important role in ensuring the welfare and wellbeing of the community. It is a social responsibility they have performed for ages and in the process also come up as role models for society to emulate (b) It is when they (Traditional Headmen) are required, by the Govt and its agencies, to perform modern and non traditional administrative functions and responsibilities, without any legislative or statutory empowerment to enable them for such non traditional duties, that a problem arises (c) that the absence of a uniform legalised code of conduct for all such traditional headmen, frequently gives rise to flagrant misuse of power, which is detrimental to social justice and social wellbeing (d) this misuse of power is often at odds with the existing law of the land. (e) a parallel system thus emerges which is often contrary to the existing provisions of statutory governance. (f) this is untenable and for the sake of Good Governance, the Govt and its agencies are directed to henceforth discontinue with such practices.
In Meghalaya there exists this general practice requiring Rangbah Shnongs/ Headmen to issue NOCs on applications for jobs, EPIC card, LPG connection or for ration card entitlement. We find a universal demand for Rangbah Shnong (RS) endorsement on building permissions, residential certificates, loan applications, energy connections, registration of land documents and what have you. In Meghalaya, Govt insists on such mandatory RS certification before any official document can be entertained. Official records show that this practice started only since 1979. So it cannot be termed as traditional practice. It simply was not there before. A parallel system of governance laying outside the purview of any rule, regulation or piece of legislation was thus created. Taken therefore solely from a legal perspective, the observations of the court are perfectly warranted and justified.
Recognising this legal validity does not however help in filling up the administrative vacuum that the ruling has created. The land tenure system of Meghalaya makes it inimical towards the establishment of land revenue and land records. Unlike other states in India, Meghalaya does not have grassroot revenue officials, such as Patwaris and Lekpals to represent Govt at the village level. Govt is therefore forced to depend on other sources for information; data collection; administrative and developmental scheme implementation at the grassroot level. The RS was thus identified and picked up, without bothering to check on his legal status, as the unofficial Govt grassroot worker. Irrespective of legality, severing this linkage at this juncture, without any viable alternative, is bound to create an administrative void that will only impact on the common man. We need to understand how this came about.
Lifeless officialdom has always held that the Rangbah Shnong epitomised Traditional Governance. Nothing could be further from the truth! Traditional governance was never entrusted in any single individual. Traditional governance was always collective through the Dorbar system. To quote Fabian Lyngdoh (ST,24th Dec 2014, A frozen dynamic tradition) “There was no chief in the Khasi polity. It is the Dorbar only which is the chief”. When in typical Govt style, the administration started directing its official correspondence to an individual instead of the Dorbar, it started a wrong precedence. In reality the RS is simply the official appointed by the Dorbar in a traditional village administrative system where decisions were arrived at collectively through the Dorbar in Council. This curbed oligarchy. Modern administration, to arrive at the same objective, is affected through an appointed official, but one who operates through Laws, rules, regulations and a system of checks and balances aimed at curtailing misuse of power. In equating the RS with an appointed govt official but allowing him to operate without the necessary checks and balances, Meghalaya Govt created an autocracy in a traditional system specifically designed to prevent such an eventuality. Misuse of power started to raise its ugly head leading to inevitable interventions from the courts.
As an indigenous Khasi Pnar I take great pride in our Dorbar system; of decision making through consensus; of the social value systems that drive and guide such decisions. Of late however, especially because of unthinking intervention from Govt, the dorbar system has been compromised. The RS as an individual began calling the shots on his own, overshadowing the traditional collective profile of the dorbar. That he started coming under tremendous pressure from socio-economic schemes driven by unlimited Govt funds was never given heed to. That Party politics and political godfathers began to patronise him for his services, was ignored. He was left totally unprepared for the opportunities of system abuse that began to surround him and the office he held. To their credit most RS managed to stick to the straight and narrow, but in the absence of institutionalised checks and balances, not a few individuals succumbed to irresistible pressure and temptations. The downward slide had begun.
The High Court Judgement has now set the cat among the pigeons. A crisis has developed with the Dorbar system at the cross roads. So how do we respond to this crisis? Depends really on how one perceives a crisis – as a threat or as an opportunity? Emotional reactions of anger and fear usually accompany a threat perception. Responding to an opportunity however usually calls for longterm and strategic planning and this precisely is what we need to do now. On the agenda is the need to retain our dorbar system. Its integral to our culture and identity as indigenous people. That it has been exempted from the Panchayati Raj of the 73rd Amendment doesn’t imply that it should be frozen in time. If its good, lets share it with the rest of the world! Sheer stupidity to keep it locked up in a box. In fact the dorbar has to be made relevant and meaningful to the needs and demands of the 21st century. It must reflect democratic values; gender sensitivity and participatory accountability. We should therefore use this opportunity for pushing in reforms, empowerment, improvement and capacity building for our TIs to make them appropriate platforms of good governance. Nothing prevents us from doing so!
Not all Rangbah Shnongs misuse their authority and power. To say otherwise is to miss the woods for the trees for most give yeoman service to the communities they serve. It is however high time we admit that a few rouge elements have misused their powers. Such elements should never be allowed to use tradition as a shield for their nefarious activities. The situation calls for three urgent reviews. Firstly, recognise that traditional governance is collective and not individualistic. The Dorbar is the source of power not the Rangbah Shnong. Secondly, take immediate legislative steps to legally empower the dorbars as participatory platforms capable of collaborating with Government towards a development oriented administration. Thirdly, empower them with a code of uniformity to enable them to be democratic, participative, transparent and accountable to the needs of our modern society. That is the real challenge before us!
The last line of Para 6 of the High Court judgement under discussion provides a hint on how to proceed. It says, quote “They have no power to issue any kind of certificate unless empowered by rule or laws”, unquote. Note the word ‘Unless’. So lets keep sentiment and emotions aside. Lets approach the problem with practical common sense. We need to make our dorbar system and its officials relevant to our needs. So lets empower the system through legislation. On the anvil, ready to be made into a law is the KHADC Village Administration Bill, which is pending for the Governors approval. The Bill focuses on empowering the Dorbar; on making it an Institution for modern governance. Role and function of the Rangbah Shnong / Village Headman require a few tweaks. No big deal! Pressurise our legislators to call for a special session of the Assembly to Legislate on the issue. Make Tradition and its Institutions the fulcrum for delivering concepts of Good Grassroot Governance. Enact a Law which will be applicable to the entire state of Meghalaya. Please do it fast and then let’s get on with life.
Author is President of ICARE an organisation that focuses on issues of Good Governance