By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The CSWO has observed that the NGOs had repeatedly asked for the copy of ILP Repealing Act 1897 during the High Level Committee (HLC) on Influx, but till date they have not been provided with the copy of the repealed act.
With the delay in releasing the act, the CSWO President Agnes Kharshiing alleged that the repealing act does not exist in paper because the legal experts could not produce the same to the HLC during its meeting.
” It was stressed upon, time and again, to show the act to us, but the Advocate General and the Law Department could not produce the same,” Kharshiing said in a statement issued here on Sunday.
According to her, the portion added in the footnotes of the REGULATION 5 OF 1873, (BENGAL EASTERN FRONTIER REGULATION, 1873), which is in the website of the Ministry of DoNER, cannot be a fact, if there is no original copy from which it was extracted.
She added that the footnote mentions that Garo Hills districts, were excluded by the Repealing Act, 1897 (V of 1897).
She also urged the legislators to ask for the copy of the original Repealing Act from the Government.
The CSWO also alleged that the file related to land amendments in 1979 is missing from the law department and an amendment was inserted in 1979, which does not seem to have been actually amended in the Assembly.
The amendment stated that nothing contained in the Land Transfer Act shall apply to any transfer of land to, or in favour of any company, corporation, society (including co-operative society), autonomous body or association, wholly or substantially owned and controlled or managed by the Government and which the Government of Meghalaya may, by notification, specify.
“There were amendments of the land laws that are being inserted, when actually there was no amendment made, and the President’s assent was not sought, especially when it involves land issues and directly conflicting with the Sixth Schedule. There seems to be a serious fraud on the Indigenous Khasi, Jaintia and Garo people and the legislators should take this up in the floor of the House questioning the missing files and missing documents related to land,” Kharshiing said.
