SHILLONG: The Harijan Panchayat Committee has asked the settlers of Harijan Colony to respond to the notice issued by the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) last month on the direction of the High Level Committee for conduct of inventory survey.
The Secretary of the Harijan Panchayat Committee, Gurjeet Singh, said that the Committee has not met yet, but it has asked the settlers to collect whatever documents they can and respond to the notice.
“They (government) are continuously asking us for documents and we told people to arrange whatever documents they have with them,” he said.
Stating that it would be difficult for the settlers to collect documents in such a short time, he added that if required, they may even ask the state government to grant more time to submit their documents.
He said that the Committee was thinking that the court will follow up on the matter through the civil procedure following the directive of the High Court that the matter should be heard in civil court.
“We thought if the government goes to civil court, we will also get an opportunity to collect our documents but the government is not doing that,” he said.
The SMB last month again issued notices for the purpose of inventory survey following the directive of the High Level Committee (HLC) set up by the government to look for ways to relocate residents of Harijan Colony.
The Board has asked the residents to submit their forms before August 30.
The HLC had decided to extend the inventorisation process for another one month.
It had last month issued notices to the settlers to submit their documents and claims before the SMB within a month which expired on July 2 but nobody turned up for the exercise.
The SMB also said that the information to be furnished by the occupants will be used for taking administrative decisions including examination of legal claim of the residents, if any.
