SHILLONG: With growing concerns over land issues in Meghalaya, the Confederation of Meghalaya Social Organisation (CoMSO) has made a demand to redefine the word “tribal” so as to mean only indigenous tribals belonging to the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo communities who are permanently settled in the state.
The demand was made when a delegation of CoMSO met Revenue Minister Kyrmen Shylla on Friday to discuss matters relating to the Land Transfer Act in tribal areas of the state.
Following the meeting, chairman of CoMSO Robertjune Kharjahrin said their demand was not a new one. He recalled that a working group committee under the chairmanship of the former Home Minister, late TH Rangad, had submitted a recommendation in 2001 which stated that the Meghalaya Land Transfer Act should be further amended so as to allow transfer of land only among the indigenous tribals of the state and to constitute a proper definition of ‘indigenous tribal’ so as to include only the genuine tribals of the state”.
Another recommendation of the committee was that the government should take appropriate steps to de-schedule certain Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes from the state list.
Kharjahrin added that the state government must notify that the District Council shall be one of the competent authorities under section 2(a) of the Meghalaya Transfer of Land (Regulation) Act, 1971.
According to CoMSO, this will be in line with section 41 of the Rights to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 and Rule 17 of the of the Rights to fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Social impact Assessment and Consent) Rules, 2014 where prior permission of the concerned ADC needs to be obtained before land is acquired in the scheduled areas of the state.
The CoMSO maintained that that there has been continuous demand by the ADCs and the Forum of Council of Sixth Schedule (FOCUS) on inclusion of the word “Transfer” in paragraph 3 (a) of the Sixth Schedule.
The CoMSO also demanded that a provision should be made for public hearings as a mandatory procedure before permission for land transfer is granted by the competent authority and permission from the traditional institutions shall also be made compulsory before such authority considers the transfer.
