Tradition is not always good, virtuous or innocent. It is often used by vested interests to create an aura of untouchability and questionability vis a vis customs and traditions even while they make capital out of the secrecy and ambiguity that surrounds them. Land ownership among the Khasis has been this black hole which has been left to be managed by the custodians of tradition namely the Sordar Shnong, Rangbah Shnong, Wahadadar and the Syiems. Each of these categories has a vested interest in exercising control over land. Today no one knows for sure if Meghalaya actually has 24,249 sq kms of land under its control. How can any state claim to have a definite control over its geography when it has not conducted a cadastral survey ever and nor has it made land registration compulsory. Buying and selling of land requires that only the Rangbah Shnong/Sordar Shnong be present with the buyer and seller and the transaction is complete. The buyer and seller of land/property pay a percentage to the Shnong and the deed is signed and sealed.
Land registration becomes compulsory only when a bank loan is needed and the land is duly assessed for its market value for which banks will provide a certain percentage of loan for house building purposes and mortgage the documents until the loan is cleared. This is a fair enough process. In Meghalaya however, land registration at the Office of the Sub-Registrar is a time-consuming process. It can take months at times. Why should this be so in the age of technology? Why is the physical presence of the person registering the land/property needed? Actually, online transactions reduce human contact and also corruption. Elsewhere, land registration is completed in a day.
In Meghalaya compulsory registration of land has become imperative because of the huge demand for land acquisition for roads and highways construction purposes. Land acquisition in Meghalaya has always been a shady business hence the post-acquisition process is always a complex one as land-owners change their decisions and begin to demand more money than the amount agreed upon initially. The National Highways Infrastructure Development and Constructions Limited (NHIDCL) is finding it a tough call to construct roads in Meghalaya. The latest bottle-neck has come in the form of the protest by land owners in Diengpasoh along the Shillong-bypass where the Guwahati-Shillong-Silchar expressway is proposed to be constructed. At other times, the Dorbar Shnong suddenly change their tune and change the alignment of the road even after due diligence has been followed by the construction company such as geological testing of the feasibility of the terrain along which the highway is to be built. All this happens because there is no legal sanctity in the land transaction. Once land is acquired the Dorbar Shnong/Elaka should have no say in the matter. Actually the Meghalaya High Court should take cognisance of such hindrances to development and save the day else Meghalaya will never have a single highway in the next 50 years, given the kind of roadblocks that the so-called traditional institutions pose. And all this is because there is a land mafia at work which colludes with the traditional institutions. This has got to stop!
