‘Pressure groups should not interfere into affairs of traditional institutions’
SHILLONG: An RTI activist of the State has claimed that pressure groups do not have the right to interfere in matters concerning the traditional bodies like the Hima and Syiemship.
“As per our customary practices, the pressure groups or NGOs have no right to interfere in matters concerning the traditional institutions. I am surprised that the KHADC is entertaining complaints made by the pressure groups, which is totally against our traditional customs,” said Dispersing Rani, an RTI activist, while taking to newsmen here on Thursday.
Rani said it was a gross mistake on the part of the KHADC to lend ears to the complaints made by the pressure groups.
“The NGOs are not a part of our traditional system. They are alien to our system. Therefore, they have not right to interfere into the matters of the traditional institutions,” he claimed.
Referring to the RTI documents which he had obtained from the KHADC over the proceeding of the meeting presided over by former KHADC CEM P.N. Syiem on October 3, 2011, which was called to take a decision on who had authority over the Mawjymbuin Cave at Mawsynram, Rani said the former CEM had taken a biased decision by declaring that the Mawjymbuin Cave fell under the jurisdiction of the Mawsynram Dorbar Shnong as actually the cave falls under the Hima Mawsynram.
Rani further claimed that the then KHADC chief had taken the decision based on the complaint lodged by three pressure groups – KSU, FKJGP and HNYF (Mawsynram Circle).
Rani claimed that the KHADC was trying to mislead everyone since it had informed in the RTI replies that no official complaint had been lodged whereas media reports published on August 31, 2012 stated that the Council had issued a show cause notice against the acting Syiem of Hima Mawsynram, Amos Malngiang, for allegedly issuing NOC for performing religious rites at the Mawjymbuin cave.
The media reports had stated that the show cause order was issued after the three pressure groups complained that the acting Syiem was bypassing the Mawsynram Dorbar Shnong by granting NOC for performing religious activities inside the Mawjymbuin Cave.
The pressure groups had maintained that since the Mawjymbuin Cave was under the jurisdiction of the Mawsynram Dorbar Shnong, the authority to grant the NOC lay solely with the Dorbar.