By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Ri-Bhoi Deputy Commissioner Akashdeep Singh has said the he is confident of recovering Rs 8 crore out of total Rs 10 crore from the Umroi legislator Stanly Wiss Rymbai, which the district administration had paid to the legislator for the acquisition of Mawpalai plantations in Ri-Bhoi.
Talking to The Shillong Times over telephone on Tuesday, the Deputy Commissioner said, “We have not received any directive from the court to discontinue the recovery process.”
Now the matter is pending in the court as the village authorities had approached court claiming that the forest area belonged to them
The district administration has already sent a notice to the MLA to return the money.
According to Singh, the district administration would not hesitate to use different acts like Bengal Public Demand Recovery Act to recover the money.
On the other hand, Rymbai has claimed that he was authorized by the Umsawkhwan village in Ri-Bhoi through a power of attorney to collect the amount of money for the land allotment for the scheme ‘acquisition of ecologically important area’ in the village.
Through a recent order, Principal Secretary, Forest, MS Rao, had asked the Ri-Bhoi Deputy Commissioner to cancel the land acquisition proceedings besides realizing the money from the legislator.
It is learnt that the Deputy Commissioner wrote to the Forest department that the whole process of land acquisition began during the tenure of his predecessor M Kharmujai in 2011.