Council to demand withdrawal of letter that misrepresents the Act
By Our Reporter
Shillong, Nov 30: The KHADC has decided to write to the state government to seek the withdrawal of the letter of an Under Secretary of the Social Welfare Department to the Deputy Commissioners of East Khasi Hills and West Khasi Hills districts for allegedly misinterpreting the KHAD (Khasi Social Custom of Lineage) Act, 1997.
“We will soon write to the state government to withdraw this letter. The council is yet to receive a copy of it but we have been informed about it,” the council’s Chief Executive Member, Pyniaid Sing Syiem told reporters on Thursday.
The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) on Wednesday demanded that the government should withdraw the letter.
The letter states: “The Lineage Act, 1997 does not prohibit the issuance of ST certificate to applicants adopting the surname of either the father or the mother, and the practice of adopting husband’s surname by a non-Khasi wife was also allowed.”
Syiem said the Lineage Act of 1997 clearly defined that the Khasi tribe certificate can be issued to any offspring born out of wedlock of a Khasi father and a non-Khasi mother only after the performance of “Tang Jait”.
He said henceforth, the council will examine if there are any such cases while issuing Khasi tribe certificate.
He clarified that “Tang Jait” can only be carried out with the offspring, and if a Khasi man has a non-Khasi wife, the wife cannot adopt the Khasi surname since it is against the provisions of the Act.
According to the Act, “Tang Jait” means a ceremony for adopting a Jait (surname) with the prefix of “Dkhar” or simply “Khar” to it for the person or persons born out of a Khasi father and a non-Khasi mother and have been absorbed and assimilated into the Khasi community.
The “Tang Jait” ceremony may be performed according to prevailing custom among the Kur, Jait, or clan of the Khasi father and in the absence of such a custom or in the case of Khasi converted to another religion, it shall be performed by any uncle or adult male member of the Kur or Jait who is a Khasi from the Kpoh of the Khasi father in such form and manner as the members of the Kpoh may decide, which may vary from Kpoh to Kpoh and it shall be done in the presence of the Chief or Headman of the village or locality where the person concerned or his/her Khasi father resides.
After meeting Social Welfare Minister Paul Lyngdoh on Wednesday, HYC president Roy Kupar Synrem said, “We request you to kindly issue necessary direction for an immediate withdrawal of the letter under reference.”
“This letter, written by the Under Secretary in 2020 to the two Deputy Commissioners, is a complete misinterpretation of the Lineage Act of 1997. So, we met the Social Welfare Minister to demand that this particular letter should be withdrawn,” the HYC president had said.
According to him, the minister told them that he has already sought the file and he would inform them in the next few days whether or not the Under Secretary’s letter would be withdrawn.