SHILLONG: The KHADC chief executive member, HS Shylla, has asked citizens to boycott the district council elections next year if the state government does not approve the Khasi Social Custom of Lineage Bill, 2018, and the KHAD (The Inner Line) Regulation, 2018.
Shylla said on Wednesday that it was pointless to have election if the two bills, “which are critical for interest of the indigenous community”, were not approved.
The KHADC chief was determined to launch a “mass campaign” to urge people to boycott the election if the bills did not get the assent of the governor.
“The autonomous district councils (ADCs) were created to protect the interest of the indigenous communities and the mandate of the ADCs is to legislate laws which are in the best interest of the indigenous population. But sadly the government has always adopted a policy to hold the bills passed by the council without citing any reason. It is for this reason that the bill passed by the council continues to linger in the corridor of the Secretariat,” said Shylla and added that the government’s dilly-dally “will no longer be tolerated” and “we are ready to go to any extend to ensure that the two bills become acts”.
If the KHAD (The Inner Line) Regulation, 2018, is approved then the provisions of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, for implementation of ILP will be applicable within the jurisdiction of the KHADC.
On the Khasi Social Custom of Lineage Bill, 2018, the CEM said the bill “is very crucial to protect the interest of the indigenous population since it prohibits a Khasi woman from marrying a non-Khasi and also taking the surname of the father’s clan”. He asserted that he does not want the lineage bill to face the same fate as the Act of 1997 that was passed on March 13, 1997, and got an assent only on February 23, 2005.
