SHILLONG, Jan 21: The police on Tuesday said the villagers who stormed the construction site of the Ramakrishna Mission ME School at Mawkynrew are liable to face legal action.
A senior police official said the villagers’ action is tantamount to contempt of court as a case relating to the school is pending in the High Court of Meghalaya. He also said the acting Sordar of Mawkynrew Dorbar Pyllun, Kitborlang Mukhim filed an FIR on Monday into the incident where the villagers tried to forcefully enter the site of construction of the RKM ME School.
According to the police official, a complaint has also been received from Swami Anuragananda, secretary of Ramakrishna Mission Ashram Sohra, which will act as a supporting document.
“The area is still under curfew and police personnel have been deployed at the site. The present situation in the area is peaceful and under control,” he said.
In the complaint to the Director General of Police on January 19, Swami Anuragananda said the villagers were incited by a public announcement to destroy the school.
The complaint was written hours before the villagers tried to storm the construction site, which had led to the clash with the police and injury to 12 people on Monday.
The Swami said the complaint be treated as an urgent request to send more police personnel to the Mawkynrew school site where some policemen have been staying for a year following the direction of the High Court of Meghalaya.
“The reason for our request is the public announcement being made now at Mawkynrew village by some people to incite a big crowd to go to the school premises tomorrow (most probably in the early hours of Monday morning) and damage the school (audio clip attached),” he wrote.
He further said it was very surprising that the very people inciting the public had moved the court seeking to invalidate the school property gifted by the Sordar and Syiem of that Elaka.
“Please send additional police force and take necessary action as per the law so that the school that is providing education to 168 students (2024-25), is not damaged due to whims and fancy of some miscreants who do not care about law and order,” the Swami said.
Former Mawlein village Sordar, P Wankhar admitted the decision of the villagers to reclaim the land on which the under-construction school stands could be a contempt of court.
He is the leader of the Sur U Paidbah of Mawkynrew and Mawlein who are opposing the construction of the RKM school.
Stating that he is aware of the pending litigation over the land, he said the villagers also understand the consequences of their actions. “But we have no option since the BDO of Mawkynrew has not fulfilled his commitment to direct the RKM to stop constructing the school building. If the other party is allowed to continue with their work, it is our right to reclaim the land adjacent to the school which was allotted to the Mawkynrew Sports Club,” Wankhar said.
He asserted they have the documents to prove that the land was allotted to the Mawkynrew Sports Club.
“It was the acting Sordar of Mawkynrew Dorbar who allotted the land to the sports club,” Wankhar claimed.
The former Sordar of Mawlein village also claimed that the acting Sordar of Mawkynrew Dorbar Pyllun convened the meeting of the Dorbar Pyllun to discuss the proposal for allotment of the land to the RKM, Sohra.
According to him, as per convention, the approval of Dorbar Pyllun is necessary even if the Dorbar of both Mawkynrew and Mawlein villages had endorsed the proposal to allot the land to RKM, Sohra.
“We are firm that we will not allow the RKM to construct on the allotted land since due process has not been followed,” he said.
The former Sordar of Mawkynrew, N Shylla admitted that the Mawkynrew Dorbar Shnong approved the proposal to allot the land to RKM, Sohra.
“But at the same time, we expected the meeting of the Mawkynrew Dorbar Pyllun to be convened where the villagers of both Mawkynrew and Mawlein would be present to deliberate on the proposal. But the acting Sordar of Mawkynrew Dorbar Pyllun signed the gift deed with RKM Sohra on his own,” he said.
According to him, there should have been an inspection of the identified land and the demarcation of the boundaries with the two Dorbar Shnongs before going ahead with the signing of the gift deed.
The former Sordar of Mawlien village said the boundaries defined in the gift deed are not the same as the land where the RKM is constructing its school building.
“No one knows which land the acting Sordar of Mawkynrew Pyllun had defined,” he added.
Wankhar also claimed that the villagers had written to Mukhim to convene the meeting of the Dorbar Pyllun to revisit the allocation of the land of the RKM on March 4, 2023.
“But he (Mukhim) never paid any heed to the request to convene the meeting of the Dorbar Pyllun,” he added.
Reacting to the allegation, the acting Sordar of Mawkynrew Dorbar Pyllun said the request to convene the meeting of the Dorbar Pyllun should come from the former Sordar of Mawkynrew (N Shylla) since he was the one who approved the proposal to allot the land during the meeting of the Mawkynrew Dorbar Shnong.
“I will not have any problem to convene the meeting if there is a request from the former Sordar to again deliberate on the matter,” he said, adding they can even go to the spot to inspect the land.
“But now, I don’t think there is any point to discuss this since the matter is already in the court. He (former Sordar of Mawkynrew) should have taken the lead much before if he was committed to the interest of the two villages,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mukhim said he had convened an emergent meeting on November 22, 2021, after he heard there was opposition from some sections of Mawkynrew village to the decision on the allotment of the land.
He said it was in this meeting that a decision was taken to direct RKM, Sohra to start the work on the school.
Replying to a query, the acting Sordar of Mawkynrew Dorbar Pyllun said it was not necessary to convene the meeting for Mawlein village since there was no opposition from their side to the meeting.
He said the RKM started the school in 2022 while admitting there was a decision to allot the land to the sports club in 2015.
Denying having issued any letter to confirm that the land would be permanently allotted to the sports club, Mukhim said he only issued a letter to allow the development of the football ground in 2019 after the joint secretary of the Dorbar Pyllun managed to get funds from the MP scheme.
He said the football ground could not be developed as the amount they received was very small.
When asked why the village authority had identified the same piece of land to allot to the RKM Sohra, he said the former Mawkynrew Sordar (N Shylla) declared the boundaries of the land for the RKM in the meeting of the Dorbar Shnong he had convened.
“I had questioned why there was no proper boundary demarcation of the land to be allotted during the meeting in November 2021. But there was no reply either from the former Mawkynrew Sordar or the Secretary. Instead, there was a unanimous voice to direct the RKM, Sohra to start the work for opening the school,” Mukhim said.
He said the land they had identified for allotment of the club was also given to RKM since the football ground was not fully developed.
The acting Sordar of Mawkynrew Dorbar Pyllun clarified that the boundaries indicated in the gift deed are the same as those of the land allotted to the RKM.
“The confusion has cropped up since there was a mistake in defining the boundaries. I have already clarified this during the meeting convened by the Additional Deputy Commissioner of East Khasi Hills, SC Sadhu when these same people had raised this matter,” Mukhim said.
