SHILLONG: The Hynniewtrep National Youth Front (HNYF) has questioned the application of the proposed Meghalaya Regulation of Landlord and Verification of Tenants Bill, 2013. According to the HNYF, the proposed bill does not have anything to offer as far as controlling influx of illegal immigrants is concerned and has little to offer on the issue of entry of foreigners.
In a statement issued here on Monday, HNYF president GH Kharshanlor said that the proposed State Tenants Bill is a borrowed concept from other states of the country which had implemented similar bills to protect the tenants from the landlords (under Zamindari, Enamdari systems etc.) and implementation of the same in Meghalaya will only add confusion to the existing state of affairs.
“The Meghalaya Regulation of Landlord and Verification of Tenants Bill, 2013 proposed by the present Government, touches only a few context on the foreigner issue even as the Foreigners’ Act is already in existence,” the HNYF statement said.
“The words tenants and tenancy are not new words here anymore but have been implemented by other states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Goa etc. In Andhra Pradesh, there is an Act called the Andhra Pradesh (Andhra area) Tenancy Act, 1956: Evolution of Tenancy Reforms in Andhra Area. The objective of this law is to stop the landlords from harassing the tenants who rented lands for agriculture, building houses etc. from systems such as ‘Zamindari’, ‘Enamdari’ and ‘Ryotwari’,” Kharshanlor said.
The Goa, Daman and Diu Agricultural Tenancy Act, 1964 is similar and protects the tenants (i.e. agriculturists and horticulturists) from the landlords or even the Government.
“Imitating such laws on tenants and tenancy from other states is like fooling the tribal people and saying that the Meghalaya Regulation of Landlords and Verification of Tenants Bill is a law to control influx in the state is nonsense,” the HNYF president said.
The organization urged upon the indigenous people, villages and traditional heads of the state to stand united and urge the government to implement strict laws to control influx of illegal immigrants in the state.