SHILLONG, Oct 29: Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) Chief Executive Member, Titosstarwell Chyne on Friday said the state government has invited the council to discuss the Meghalaya Building Bye-Laws, 2021.
“We had planned to write to the state government to reject the new building by-laws but we received a letter from Urban Affairs Minister, Sniawbhalang Dhar, inviting the council to mutually discuss the matter,” Chyne told The Shillong Times.
He said the meeting between the council and the Urban Affairs department will be held after the declaration of the results of by-elections to three seats.
Executive Member in-charge of Building Bye-Laws, Paul Lyngdoh said majority of the areas in Meghalaya are outside the definition of urban areas.
“How will you implement the bye-laws of the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA) in areas which have been classified as non-urban? This is the basic issue which needs to be deliberated,” Lyngdoh said.
He stated that the government should have empowered the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) to look after the autonomous areas.
On the argument that the implementation of building bye-laws is outside the jurisdiction of the council, Lyngdoh said Para 3 (e) of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution states about the establishment of village or town committees. He also said that the district council is vested with powers to make law as per Para 3 (e) of the Sixth Schedule.
“The powers vested in the ADCs are inherent in the Sixth Schedule. We are not talking about the legislation formulated by the council. The Meghalaya Town and Country Planning Act, 1973 came later,” he said.
According to him, it is within the jurisdiction of the ADCs to come up with building bye-laws in towns and villages.
“The ADCs can be vested with powers to oversee the construction of houses within its jurisdiction. It is misleading to see that we don’t have power since it is part of Para 3 (e),” Lyngdoh said.
He said the council has already notified the Building and Structure Regulatory Authority.
“For this setup, we had an agreement with the state government that it will exercise the power within its jurisdiction and the ADCs, as per para 3 (e), within its jurisdiction,” Lyngdoh said.
According to him, this authority, established by the council, can implement the same bye-laws by giving separate powers to the ADCs.
He said in the Meghalaya Building Bye-Laws, 2021, notified by the Urban Affairs department, the name of ADC as an authority features only in the “definition” part of the Gazette.
“But in the chapters, there was no mention of the ADCs even though we had decided in the meeting that we can use the same bye-laws which will be uniform for the whole state,” Lyngdoh said.
He said the bye-laws were silent on the empowerment of either the MUDA or the ADC to exercise the construction of houses outside areas falling under MUDA.
“Neither they have authorized the ADCs nor has the state government taken the authority. There was no mention that MUDA will exercise its power even in the schedule areas,” he said.
The council mentioned in the building by-laws that in above 50,000 sq ft areas, the building permission will be issued by MUDA but nothing was mentioned who will exercise the power in areas below 50,000 sq ft, Lyngdoh said.
“You cannot leave an inch of land as grey areas. It is a major lapse of policy making on the part of the state government,” he said.
He also said that there are two options either to implement one uniform bye-law or to allow the ADCs to formulate their own bye-laws.
“The state government should clearly spell out what they want the councils to do. If they want us to adopt the same bye-laws, then they should define clearly the council’s jurisdiction,” Lyngdoh said.
Stating that if the government wants the council to make its own bye-laws, he said the ADCs should not be mentioned in the MUDA bye-laws and removed from the definition.