Gurdwara Committee petitions National Commission for Minorities
SHILLONG: Three cases related to Harijan Colony will come up for hearing before the High Court of Meghalaya on Tuesday. The first one is a contempt case filed by Harijan Panchayat Committee against Shillong Municipal Board chief and others for issuing notices for relocation and the second one is the review petition moved by state government against an earlier order of the single bench of the court regarding handing over the dispute to civil court and the third petition is by the headman of Harijan Colony, Billu Singh, for not giving effect to the 1954 agreement executed between the Syiem of Mylliem and the Shillong Municipal Board.
The KHADC represented by its counsel VGK Kynta has already filed an affidavit in opposition challenging the maintainability of the petition by Singh. The state government will be represented by Advocate General.
Committee wants withdrawal of threat
Earlier on Saturday, the City Gurdwara Management Committee has petitioned the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) for its intervention on the Harijan Colony issue. In a letter submitted to the member of NCM, Manjit Singh Rai in New Delhi, the Committee said it is a matter of concern that HNLC had issued threats at a time when the Harijan Panchayat Committee had served a contempt notice to the Shillong Municipal Board for pasting notices on more than 300 houses of the area.
The city Gurdwara committee has urged the NCM to direct the Meghalaya government to ensure that the threat of HNLC is withdrawn.
It also wanted NCM to direct the Centre to rush in central forces to help the local police and the paramilitary forces. The committee also wanted a hearing on the matter involving senior officials of the government. The city Gurdwara has also deplored that the chairman of High Level Committee and Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong himself is advocating the need to relocate the residents besides the local MLA Adelbert Nongrum. The letter pointed out that some residents have also received notices for relocation.
Contempt against Feb 15 order
The letter reminded that he High Curt on February 15 this year had asked the government and all other agencies not to disturb the Harijan Colony residents and if at all the government and its agencies want to evict or remove them, they have to approach the Civil Court and it will pass an appropriate order giving equal opportunities to both the parties. The city Gurdwara committee also said that earlier the National Commission for Minorities and National Human Rights Commission wanted the government to maintain status quo. The letter also expressed concern over threats from several quarters which are disturbing the day to day activities of the residents. The committee pointed out that in view of 550th year celebrations of the advent of Guru Nanak, the residents want to complete the construction of Gurdwara but they are unable to do so due to the climate of fear.