SHILLONG: The autonomous councils need to have a strong Land Bill before facilitating the process of free registration of land of the local indigenous people, especially those residing near the border areas, KHADC Chief Executive Member (CEM) Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit said on Wednesday.
“We need to formulate our own Land Bill in order to facilitate the process for free registration of land,” Basaiawmoit said in the KHADC session while replying to a motion moved by Congress MDC Victor Ranee on the problems faced by the people residing in border areas with regards to registration of land during the ongoing budget session here.
He said a number of confusions might crop up if they decide to go ahead with the land registration by not having a proper legislation in place.
“The executive committee will examine and study the legal aspects on the need to provide free land registration,” Basaiawmoit said.
According to him, “we need to understand as to what extent this can be effective enough to stop and prevent alienation of tribal indigenous land.”
“The executive committee will also require the suggestion and advice of legal experts since the matter is a subject of concern.” he said.
He suggested that the best possible way to prevent alienation of the tribal indigenous land was through a Land Record.
“We in fact can carry out a physical verification of the various areas if we decide to initiate the Land record,” Basaiawmoit said.
Earlier, moving the motion, Ranee said that many of the villagers residing along the inter-State border were registering their land with Assam due to the flaws in the land registration system in Meghalaya
“The Assam Government has been able to prevail upon our people to register their land with them since they are registering the land for free,” Ranee said while taking to newsmen here on Thursday.
According to him, the other advantage of the policy adopted by the Assam Government was that they were registering their land on the spot which was attracting the people to register their land with them.
The areas under his constituency where people were opting to register their land in Assam included Pillingkata, Iongkhuli, Umtyrnga and Maikhuli. The population in these areas was around 6,000, and the residents were mostly Karbis, Boros and Rabhas, he said.
Besides registering their land, Ranee informed that the Assam Government was also providing free electricity and drinking water to the poor villagers.
Explaining the flaws in the land registering system in Meghalaya, he said the poor villagers who were mainly farmers could not afford to register their land in Meghalaya since it was too expensive.
“Even to get a simple land document (patta) from the respective village council and dorbar shnong, the villagers would have to give money to the Rangbah Shnong and the Executive Committee. Suppose if they would like to register their land with the Syiem, they would have to spend some more money which they cannot afford,” the Congress Jirang MDC said.
He said that other drawback was that the procedure for registration of land here was too lengthy, another reason discouraging people from registering their land in Meghalaya.
Supporting the motion, Laitumkhrah-Malki MDC Antonio N War while stressing the need to provide free land registration alleged that traditional heads like the Sordar and Syiem were harassing people by taking advantage of the flaws in the land registration system of the council.
He said that people had to depend on their land documents issued by the traditional authorities which did not have legal recognition.
Pointing out that district council did not have a proper map to define the areas under the different himas, he further suggested the executive committee should direct the himas to prepare proper maps of their respective jurisdictions for inclusion in the council’s land record which was legally recognized.
War also suggested that the Council conduct a casdastral survey of the land within the jurisdiction of the Council.
“By doing the cadastral survey, the bank would have no problem in accepting the land registration of the Council if the people went to apply for loans,” the Laitumkhrah MDC said.
