SHILLONG: The legal documents in the possession of the Punjabi community at Punjabi Lane and the support of the Hima Mylliem from time immemorial reveal that it will be difficult for the state government to evict them.
The residents had won three court cases and they also have the permission from the Hima Mylliem to construct buildings, a school and religious places.
An official document said the “Syiem and Dorbar, Hima Mylliem never issued any land document to the Harijan Community but recognised and respected them since the plot of land was allotted to them long time back by the predecessors, Syiem of Hima Mylliem”.
1996 fire
Quoting documents, Gurjeet Singh, the secretary of Harijan Panchayat Committee and president of Gurdwara committee, said on March 22, 1996, a fire broke out in the area and the LP school building was gutted.
In 1972, the Education Department recognised Guru Nanak LP School. It was accorded minority institution status by the government.
The Hima Mylliem did not have objection for the reconstruction and repair of the school, the document said.
The official letter written by the Hima Mylliem in 2008 addressed to the chairman of the state electricity board was in connection with the land holding in respect of Guru Nanak LP School.
On January 4, 1954, the Shillong Municipal Board and the Syiem of Mylliem executed an agreement that said while the “Board will relinquish Mawlonghat without any compensation and with a view to replenish the loss which the Board has sustained by the relinquishment, the Syiem of Mylliem will allow the Shillong Municipal Board to use the vacant plot of Sweepers’ Line for creating shops, godowns and office rooms, while the remaining of Sweepers’ Line will continue to be used for accommodation of sweepers’ quarters and not for any other purpose”.
The document states that the Harijan Community was already settled and inhabited in Shillong even before the agreement entered into by U Melay Sing, Syiem of Mylliem, with the British government for establishing civic and military sanitaria, posts and cantonment signed on December 10, 1863, with Lieutenant Colonel JC Haughton, Agent to the Governor General, North East Frontier under instruction by the British Government.
) According to the document, in 1934, the Syiem of Mylliem ceded to the British government the jurisdiction of Shillong villages which is necessary for the municipal administration to exercise its authority as per the Assam Municipal Act, 1923.
The British officers used the services of Harijan labourers for cleaning garbage, human and animal faeces, bodies right from government offices, departments, hospitals, military sanitaria, cantonment, British officers’ headquarters and others.
“The Syiem and Dorbar, Mylliem Syiemship also used their services for cleaning of Iewduh, Mylliem Thana, Dorbar of Syiem, Hima Mylliem and Mawkhar. Their services are also utilised by the Shillong Municipal Board, police department, besides other public sector establishments and private persons in the whole of Shillong,” the document said.
The acting Syiem of Hima Mylliem, Ricky Nelson Syiem said permission was granted to the residents of Punjabi Lane to construct buildings, including a gurdwara and a school.
An official source in Shillong Municipal Board said no permission was taken from the board.
However, the functionaries of the Punjabi Lane said since Hima Mylliem allowed construction, they did not seek permission from the Municipal Board.
Currently, there are 350 families at Punjabi Lane.
The Syiem of Mylliem said in 2009, four pattas were issued by the Hima Mylliem to Punjabi Lane.
Syiem said that earlier, as per the agreement in 1954 signed with the Municipal Board by the Syiem of Mylliem, the purpose of allotting the area was to construct a shopping complex and also quarters for the municipal employees.
The source also admitted that the agreement was for construing houses for the employees and also for the sanitation workers.
In 1996, a portion of the area was burnt and the magistrate promulgated Section 144 CrPC and did not allow reconstruction of the area.
Court cases
However, the affected families filed a case in the Shillong bench of the Gauhati High Court and there was a stay order against the order of the magistrate.
Yet again in 2001, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Municipal issued notices to demolish the ‘illegal structures’ but after the families sought intervention of the Shillong Bench of the court, the CEO’s order was dismissed.
Earlier in 1994, the Shillong Bench stayed an eviction order of the East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner.
A case is also pending with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the National Commission for Minorities.
The Punjabi Lane leaders said they have the legal documents to substantiate their long stay in the area.
