Govt declares KHADC building laws null and void

SHILLONG: A day after the State Assembly passed the Prevention of Disqualification (Members of the Legislative Assembly of Meghalaya) Amendment Bill, 2015, the State Government on Friday issued a notification declaring the “Khasi Hills Autonomous District (Land Development and Building) Regulation, 2015” as “unauthorised”.
The Government notification can be termed as major setback for the KHADC which had passed Khasi Hills Autonomous District (Land Development and Building) Regulation, 2015 with an objective to regulate construction of buildings in the scheduled areas. The Government notification  has been issued in the wake of the KHADC notifying the “Khasi Hills Autonomous District (Land Development and Building) Regulation, 2015” which was published in Part-IV of the Gazette of Meghalaya (Extra-ordinary) No. 97 dated 25th August, 2015.
In the notification issued by Under Secretary to the Government of Meghalaya, District Council Affairs Department, the State Government declared that the publication of Notification on August 4, 2015 of the Office of the Executive Committee, Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC), Shillong in the Gazette of Meghalaya (Extra-ordinary) No.97, dated 25th August, 2015 as unauthorized.
For general information and future reference, the Government has notified that under Paragraph of Chapter XIV of the Meghalaya Secretariat, Manual of Office Procedures, 1993, a Gazette (Extra-ordinary) notification can be printed only with the approval of Printing and Stationery Department except where this power has been specifically delegated, such as publication of Acts by Law Department or certain publications by Assembly Secretariat and Election Department.
Moreover, Paragraph 186.6 of the Manual clearly specifies that the notification to be published in the Gazette (Extra-ordinary) or the forwarding letter should ordinarily be signed by the Secretary or, in his absence, by an officer not below the rank of a Deputy Secretary.
It has been established that the above procedure has not been followed in the publication of the aforesaid Notification in the Meghalaya Gazette (Extra-ordinary), dated 25th August, 2015.
It may be mentioned that the KHADC had formulated the regulation after there is a ‘hue and cry’ among the residents in the scheduled areas including the Dorbar Shnong opposing the alleged encroachment of MUDA even as the implementation of the Meghalaya Building Bye Laws, 2011 in the scheduled areas.
The various local Dorbar Shnong are totally disappointed after the State Government issued a fresh notification on August 26 which is an outcome of the meeting of the HSPDP vice president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit and his group with the State Government by clubbing the ten localities outside the municipal areas under the “Census Towns”.
Following the fresh notification of the State Government, the KHADC had even announced to start the process of issuing of the building permission from September 1.
Later, the KHADC decided to keep the matter on hold with the view of passing a resolution during the Dorbar Bah on September 5 to implement the Khasi Hills Autonomous District (Land Development and Building) Regulation, 2015.