SHILLONG, Dec 26: Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) Chief Executive Member, Titosstarwell Chyne said there was nothing illegal about the KHADC gates as these are not erected on the National Highway but forest beats and range offices for checking illegal movement of timber and other forest produces.
“The gates were set up according to the Sixth Schedule. We have the power like the Forest (Department) to check illegal timber and so they are all legal,” he said.
He insisted that the KHADC gates are not for collection of toll or tax on the National Highway.
Chyne dismissed Mawryngkneng MLA David A. Nongrum’s allegations that the state government was turning a blind eye to ADC check gates along the highways and that five such gates exist along the bypass from Umiam to Mawryngkneng.
“These are false allegations,” he said.
The KHADC chief also said the gates are not in violation of a Supreme Court ruling against illegal collection of taxes on national highways.
“We are aware of the ruling but the gates are on lay-bys. These are not toll gates, just for checking trading without license by non-tribal people,” he said.
The Mawryngkneng MLA had earlier accused the KHADC of operating a “livestock gate” and a “non-tribal gate”.
He said a non-tribal driver has to pay tax while a tribal driver is not required to.
Chyne said that the ADC is to protect the indigenous tribal and they work according to the constitution and rules and regulations.
On the relevance of ADCs almost four decades after the creation of Meghalaya, he said: “The ADC is a constitutional body and we have our own power vested by the Constitution of India. In Meghalaya, we have a separate traditional institution unlike other states and we want to strengthen it.”
“We are a small tribal state and we want to protect this body constituted in 1952,” he added.
The Opposition Congress had questioned the need for continuing with the ADCs while asserting that they have turned into a liability for the state government.
