SHILLONG: Unruffled by the initial setback, Chairman of the Ministerial Committee, also Community and Rural Development Minister, Prestone Tynsong, on Saturday said the process of public consultations on the draft Meghalaya Regulation of Landlord and Verification of Tenants Bill, 2013 would continue in the State.
“I do not foresee any problem in continuing with the consultation exercise since it is only a draft. The specific reason for putting this draft in the public domain is to further improve it. We would want people to give their valuable suggestions which would be incorporated in the final draft,” Tynsong said here.
The first consultation exercise held in the city on Wednesday was marred by protesting students who vehemently opposed the draft bill and even tore copies of the draft bill after staging a walk out from the consultation meeting.
Earlier on Friday, Justine Dkhar, a member of the Committee, had stated that the Committee might not proceed with any further consultations and the whole exercise might be called off.
“The Committee has seen the flaws of the Bill and it can take decision to temporarily call off the public consultation and recommend to the State Government to explore the possibility of re-drafting the bill to suit the interest of the indigenous tribes.”
Commenting on the flaws in the draft bill, Dkhar said, “The bill if implemented will dilute the powers of the traditional institutions. It is inappropriate for a citizen of the State who wants to rent a house in any part of the State to apply for an affidavit.”
When asked to respond on the comments made by Dkhar, Tynsong said that those were his (Dkhar’s) personal opinion.
“We have not had any discussion on discontinuing the consultation exercise,” Tynsong said, while also indicating that he might call a meeting of the members sometime next week to get their opinion on the next step forward for the Ministerial Committee.
