The Dorbar Shnong is by all definitions a local governance body. Had Meghalaya come under the purview of the Panchayati Raj Act, the Dorbar Shnong would have been the Gram Panchayat with a list of functions under its jurisdiction. Delivery of justice or law and order should also have been the mandate of the Gram Panchayat but the Bill for formalising the Nyaya Panchayat is still pending in Parliament. The Law Commission has strongly recommended that the Nyaya Panchayat Bill be passed at the earliest so that Courts do not face undue pressure from having to attend to cases that could have been settled by these village courts within the Gram Panchayat. The earliest Nyaya Panchayats were established under the Village Courts Act of 1888. Since a forum for the resolution of disputes with the participation of people in local justice administration is the goal envisaged by Article 39A of the Constitution of India, some jurists and social scientists strongly felt that it is incumbent on the government to take immediate steps to activate Nyaya Panchayats to provide better access to the law in rural India. It is also argued that Nyaya Panchayats guided by local traditions, culture and behavioural pattern of the village community instil confidence in the people towards the administration of justice.
In Meghalaya the Dorbar Shnong is seen as a body outside of the Constitutional framework. The traditional institutions are mentioned only in passing in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. Office bearers to the Dorbar Shnong are still elected by voice vote and then get their ‘sanad’ or formal authority to run the affairs of the village from the District Council. Every Dorbar has its own objectives and goals. No two Dorbar Shnong function on similar lines. Most often the Dorbar act on the spur of the moment to contain a situation. For instance when a bandh was called sometime last year the Rangbah Shnong (Headman) of Laitumkhrah directed all the shops to keep their shutters open and indeed the response for making life as normal as possible was overwhelming. Surprisingly the same call was not given for subsequent bandhs. The best way to beat bandhs is for the Government to appeal to the Rangbah Shnong to direct all the shops and educational and financial establishments in their jurisdiction to keep their shutters up and for local transport to function. If the Dorbar Shnong gives such a call, bandh callers would have to think twice before imposing a bandh on citizens. If the Dorbar Shnong claims certain rights over citizens then it also has the responsibility to ensure that they are not held to ransom by some obscure militant outfit that operates over Facebook or the internet. The Government needs to involve the Dorbar Shnong in governance matters and enlist their support during such exigencies.