SHILLONG, Feb 1: The Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) on Thursday sought time from the High Court of Meghalaya to submit their response to amended proposals made by the government for relocation of 342 families from Them Iew Mawlong.
The Court on Thursday heard Advocate General Amit Kumar, assisted by Additional Advocate-General ND Chullai, and government attorney R. Colney, appearing on behalf of the state, who submitted that a meeting between all concerned, particularly with representatives of the HPC was held on December 7, 2023, wherein certain proposals have been placed before the members present and the HPC was requested to respond to such proposals.
It was also decided in the meeting that the next meeting will be held in the second week of January, 2024, however, till date, no response have been received from the HPC, Kumar informed the Court.
At this juncture, R. Khatri, counsel for the HPC, submitted that due to certain personal difficulties faced by some of the HPC members, a meeting within the said committee could not be convened to decide and to look into the proposals made by the government.
He also prayed that time may be allowed to the HPC to forward their response to the government.
As far as the next meeting between the government and the HPC is concerned, Khatri requested the government, through the Court, to fix the meeting on any date after March 15.
The Court allowed both the parties to decide on a convenient date for the next meeting and directed the government to file its report on the next date of hearing on March 26 if the meeting is held before that.
