By Fabian Lyngdoh
As far as the controversial issue of the Durbar Shnong and Rangbah Shnong is concerned I feel that political parties and various other organizations have raised up much more smoke that is necessary to light the fire to boil the broth. I had written a number of articles relating to this issue, but for the general interest of the society and the information of all concerned, permit me to make the following observations and suggestions through these columns.
Initially, the judgment of the Meghalaya High Court is that the authority of the Rangbah Shnong to issue N.O.C to the inhabitants is nowhere defined in any constitutional enactment. Hence, the state government or any public institution should not compel the people to obtain any N.O.C from the Rangbah Shnong for any official purpose. This court ruling had been interpreted by some quarters as the intention of the court to do away with the Khasi Traditional Institutions. But the reality is not so. The High Court does not recognize the authority of the Rangbah Shnong who is democratically elected because it is not defined by law; but the High Court recognizes the authority of the hereditary Syiem-Hima, Syiem-Raid or Lyngdoh-Raid because it is defined by law. In many villages it is reported that government institutions direct the people to obtain N.O.C or recommendation not from the Rangbah Shnong but from the hereditary functionaries of the Raid or the Hima, and the High Court had not objected to that. Indeed, as a side effect of the court ruling, it seems that the Hima and Raid hereditary functionaries became more energized and have extended their tentacles more actively into the village affairs.
With due respect to the honourable High Court, I would like to point out that it is sufficient to rule that the N.O.C from the Rangbah Shnong should not be made mandatory for any official purpose. If it were not for any other serious criminal action, it is not necessary to imprison a Rangbah Shnong merely for his act of issuing N.O.C. to the inhabitants. It is better to leave that to the judgment of the parties concerned. If the N.O.C issued by the Rangbah Shnong is not acceptable anywhere, then it becomes automatically invalid without any need to send him to prison. Such invalid N.O.C. would not lead to administrative inflation in the way counterfeit notes may be doing to the monetary system. The judicial machinery is set up to uphold the law (including the right to dissent), and to be guardian not only of the letter of the law, but much more of justice. So the court is neither sacred nor infallible, and not a dogmatic divine institution standing above the law. In a dictatorial state the judiciary is merely the mouth of the Dictator, and in a truly democratic state, the resolution of the people’s representatives in the legislature is holier than the judgment of the Court. There can be a holy cow in the religious affairs of the society, but there cannot be any holy cow in the political affairs of a democratic state. The judgment of the Court may be the source of a law but it requires the active ratification of the legislature through enactment of a law in line with it or through passive ratification by not enacting any law against it. The executive organ of the government is limited in its actions by court judgments or matters that are sub-judice, but the legislature is not barred to enact a law by matter in sub-judice or by judgment of the court.
The Meghalaya High Court has ruled that the Rangbah Shnong has no authority unless provided by law. This implies that it is not the judiciary that has the authority to empower the Rangbah Shnong, but it is the law-makers in the legislature who can do so. So the only best way to solve this pending problem is for the District Council to revise its ‘Village Administration Bill’ and make it more reasonable in intent and more democratic in its implication, and there would be no reason why the State Government should not send it to the Governor, and there is no reason why the Governor should not give his assent to it. If there is a law to define the authority of the Rangbah- Shnong, then the present ruling of the High Court would stand automatically cancelled. It is not necessary for the political parties to raise more dust and heat in the fiery streets and emit more smoke to obscure the matter. And it is much less necessary for the Chief Executive Member of an autonomous district council to agitate against unidentified foes by hunger strike. The simple dictum ‘where there is a will, there is a way’ is always true. The solution lies not with any external authority but in our own will.