Reports that the KHADC had reconstituted the Committee to enquire into land alienation at Law Mawpat (Mawpat Forest) rings a warning bell that the enquiry is getting nowhere. The Committee set up on July 25, 2025 was to make necessary enquiries into the entire imbroglio and submit its findings within three months. The 3-month period should have ended in October 2025 but the enquiry report is hanging fire. Now the KHADC has formed a new Committee on the plea that there was a change of guard at the Council as the earlier CEM, S Rynjah stepped down and was replaced by Winston Tony Lyngdoh. The question is why should the delay happen because of a change of CEMs if the terms of reference of the enquiry remain the same. If the terms of enquiry have changed what are those changes? The public has the right to know. The enquiry into the land alienation at Mawpat forest was necessitated when it came to the fore that certain MLAs, groups and organisations were granted land within the protected forest.
What is intriguing is the change of custodianship from the KHADC to the Hima Mylliem and how that was executed. Para 3 of the Sixth Schedule provides for the District Council and Regional Councils to make rules in respect of lands, management of forest (other than the Reserved Forest). In that case how was the management of the Mawpat forest handed over to the Syiem of Myliem? Does this arrangement exist in respect of other syiemships too? The next question is whether the ADCs come under the purview of the Environment Protection Act 1986 which is a Central Government Act. The Act says, “Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Central Government shall have the power to take all such measures as it deems necessary or expedient for the purpose of protecting and improving the quality of the environment and preventing, controlling and abating environmental pollution.”
The third question now is whether the Sixth Schedule supersedes the Central Government Act. Since the ADCs have not shown any inclination to protect rivers from pollution nor the forests from being parcelled off to elite tribals, is it not time for the Central Government to extend its authority over so-called ADC administered areas where forests are now largely denuded? The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution was enacted to conserve the culture and tradition of the tribes and to ensure that land which includes forests, rivers, agricultural land etc., are conserved for the general good of the tribes. The ADCs also have a duty to ensure that there is equity in how land is allocated to the indigenous tribals of Meghalaya. But what is witnessed today is that large sections of tribals themselves are landless and are farming on lease-held land with not even a homestead to call their own. Are the ADCs even concerned about landlessness? True that in 2021 the Khasi Hills District Council legislated on setting up of land banks to be distributed to the landless. How much land has been allocated to landless families since then? The public needs to know. What the ADCs also need to make public is the number of landless people within each ADC. These statistics are imperative to make necessary interventions.
