SHILLONG: The Committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister Rowell Lyngdoh which was assigned the task of working on amendments to strengthen the Benami Transaction Act, 1980 and the Tenants Verification Draft Bill will take more time to submit its report to the government.
Speaking to media persons on Friday, Lyngdoh avoided any mention of a date by which the report would be submitted and only stated that the Committee has recommended re-drafting of the Tenants Verification Draft Bill as the Meghalaya Regulation and Verification of Households Bills.
Lyngdoh informed that though the KHADC and the JHADC had not given their views on the amendments, the Committee had sought and received varied opinions from different sections of the people including the deputy commissioners, the district police chiefs, Syiem, Head of Elaka and others.
“The Committee has made a stringent recommendation that any person found to be violating the Benami Transaction Act should be arrested with no provision of bail and the penalty should be enhanced either by detention or by fine,” Lyngdoh said.
The Committee has recommended that the Meghalaya State Legal Service Authority should conduct awareness programmes since many of the people do not know about the provisions of the Benami Transaction Act, he said.
He also exuded confidence that the recommendations of the Committee would go a long way in addressing the concerns of influx in the State.
“Influx need not be tackled by force. Influx cannot be stopped by forcing people to hold their ears as was being done by some organizations as it should be tackled by using the brain,” Lyngdoh said while adding that the Land Transfer Act and other Labour laws have helped the State in tackling influx to a certain extent.
