By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: A conglomerate of 13 social organisations under the banner — Social Organisations of Meghalaya against Land Alienation (SOMALA) — on Wednesday urged the state government to get tough on benami transactions saying “such transactions have posed a big challenge to the survival of the indigenous people of the state”.
Talking to reporters here on Wednesday, the SOMALA convener, W Anthony said benami transaction circumvents the law, customs and practices. “The perpetrators are illusive and it is difficult to bring them under the ambit of the law,” he said.
According to the SOMALA, the most effective way to curb benami transaction is to limit the area where a tribal can sell land to another tribal and in case of genuine necessity the land can be sold subject to the consent of the traditional institutions.
He cited some instances where large hectares of land were occupied by a non-tribal in the name of a tribal.
Anthony also urged the government to amend the Meghalaya Transfer of Land Regulation Act (MTLRA) 1971 in the next session of the Assembly to safeguard the interest of the indigenous people of Meghalaya.
The social organisations felt that the government failed to properly formulate the land tenure system which is necessary to protect the interest of the local people.
They also mentioned that there is a large scale illegal sale of land violating section 3(1) of the MTLRA causing real and permanent influx while adding that the major influx comes from alienation of Land under Section 4(1)e and 4(1)f of the provision of MTLRA.
“We are of the opinion that Section 4(1)e and 4(1)f be deleted from the MTLRA 1971 as they violate the Land Tenure System of the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo people”, Anthony said.