SHILLONG, April 17: Meghalaya and Assam governments had adopted the policy of “give-and-take” to resolve their boundary disputes in six of the 12 areas but the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) on Sunday said the state government has no authority to hand over private land to the neighbouring state.
KHADC Chief Executive Member (CEM), Titosstarwell Chyne said before acquiring any private land, the state government would need to get the consent of the council according to section 41 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
“The state government has no authority to hand over private land to Assam. It is a different case for Assam since everything is revenue land,” Chyne said.
The council is livid that the chief ministers of the two states finalised the memorandum of understanding (MoU) without taking it on board. According to Chyne, the council was consulted only at the preliminary stage during the meeting of the district committees.
“We had also given our report but it was not incorporated in the MoU,” he said. He also said that the council had expected that the negotiations to resolve the protracted problem would be taken up at different stages involving the examination of documents by taking into account the geographical factors and the willingness of the people living on the border areas.
“We know the people residing in the border villages will be the worst affected due to the finalisation of the boundary agreement,” Chyne said, adding as it stands, they are against the MoU.
He said the various Himas had written to the council following Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma’s statement in the Assembly on this matter. They had written again after the signing of the MoU, he said.
It was difficult for the KHADC to comment anything since the government has not taken its consent while finalising the MoU, Chyne said.
“We would have been able to explain to the Himas if the government had involved us in the whole exercise,” he said.
The KHADC has convened a meeting on Monday with all the Himas who submitted petitions opposing the MoU.
“We would hear from them on their plan of action since the government has made it very clear that they are not going to review the MoU,” Chyne said.
He said in any case, the question of review of the MoU does not arise anymore as it has been sealed by the Home Ministry.
“It has now reached a stage where it has become impossible for the state government to either review or roll back the MoU,” Chyne added.
