SHILLONG: UDP leader and the Chairman of the High Level Committee on Influx Bindo M Lanong has ridiculed Shambhu Singh, Joint Secretary (North East) in the Union Ministry of Home Affair for his ignorance that the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act (BEFR), 1873 is still an existing law.
Commenting on Singh’s statement that the Bengal Frontier Regulation Act, 1873 (ILP) cannot be implemented in new areas as per the Constitution, Lanong on Thursday said, “the regulation is still applicable to Khasi-Jaintia Hills.” The Act was repealed in Garo Hills in 1897.
According to the UDP leader, since there was Zamindari system in Goalpara and Garo Hills in the past, the BEFR Act was repealed to enable the officials to collect taxes.
However in 1977, the Zamindari system was abolished in Garo Hills and hence, provisions can be made to extend the Act to Garo Hills too, Lanong said.
“If Shambhu Singh feels that the BEFR Act cannot be implemented in State, he is not the right authority to say so as only a judicial interpretation can be accepted and not the comments of a Home Ministry official,” said Lanong who is also a lawyer by profession.
Stand of pro-ILP groups:Meanwhile, taking cue from Joint Secretary, Home Affairs (North East) Shambhu Singh’s statement that “ILP can continue in States where it already exists,” the 13 pressure groups here have asserted that the BEFR is still an existing regulatory mechanism to check influx.
In a statement issued here on Thursday, HNYF general secretary Sadon Blah said that the pro-ILP groups said that Singh’s statement is “the most appropriate statement for Meghalaya.”
It may be mentioned that the EBFR, 1873 mentions its applicability in Khasi and Jaintia Hills.
The pressure groups also wanted the State Government to make public the letter written by the Union Home Ministry to the Government rejecting the implementation of ILP in Meghalaya.
“We are not surprised by such mysterious letters from the Central Government. We still remember that in the heights of political instability and rumblings during the tenure of former Chief Mnister DD lapang, such secret and mysterious letters from the Centre were always talked about,” Blah said.
According to the HNYF general secretary, taking into account the current phase of unrest in Meghalaya, it will be more appropriate for the State Government to make public the contents of the letter, so that even “we can take a calculated move in our demand for the implementation of ILP”.
According to the pressure groups, in the letter addressed to the State Government, the Union Home Ministry had declined the demand to implement ILP in Meghalaya since the State Government never made any such request.
Blah said that this is not a time for rhetoric and populist propaganda but for action to fulfill the aspirations of the indigenous people of the State.
“Even if the Union ministry had sent such a letter, it only shows that the particular department of the Central Government is not in line with what is mandated by the Constitution where there is a plethora of constitutional provisions which favour the protection and promotion of the minorities’ right to self-determination,” Blah said.
Meanwhile, a state home department official confirmed that it was on November 29 that a director at the Union Home Ministry level had sent the letter addressed to the Chief Secretary expressing the inability of the Centre to implement ILP in State. The letter had also referred to some legal hurdles which will prevent implementation of ILP in State.
According to the letter, introduction of ILP will be a retrograde step after the 66 years of India’s Independence.