Shillong, Jan 18: Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong on Saturday said the functioning of the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) has improved to a great extent following the coming to power of the NPP-led MDA government since 2018.
Addressing at the Ka Dorbar Iktiar Paidbah organized by the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) at Polo, Tynsong said it was for the first time ever he has witnessed such a big program organized for handing over certificates to the different categories of village administration under the jurisdiction of KHADC.
He lauded the Meghalaya Governor CH Vijayashankar for granting his assent to the various pending Bills passed by the Governor.
“The Governor had come to Meghalaya just few months ago yet he had granted his assent to many Bills which are now becoming Acts.”
Tynsong said the functioning of the ADCs have really improved in the state during the past seven years of MDA government.
According to him, the present government has come up with a system of addressing the various issues faced by the ADCs including pending Bills.
“Before 2018, there are Bills passed by the ADCs which went missing on their way to the Secretariat and there are also instances where MDCs even forget about the date which they have passed the Bills. But after 2018, Bills passed by the ADCs quickly reached the Secretariat and from time to time the DCA department of the state government had multiples discussion with all ADCs on issues pertaining to Bills to ensure their passage,” he added.
Referring to an order passed by the Meghalaya High Court in 2014 in regards to powers and functions of traditional Rangbah Shnongs, Tynsong said “There was a public meeting in the same venue to discuss on the same issue by the state government and the KHADC.
This has led us feaming certain important laws to (empower traditional institutions). Such incidents have been an eye opener especially for the ADCs and the state Government that whatever we do, we must do according to the law.”
The Deputy Chief Minister said that the Land Bill which is now an Act of the KHADC has further strengthened the land ownership in the state especially in the Khasi Hills region.
“We must remember that the ruling of the Supreme Court in 2019 before the Land Act came to the KHADC, it stated that in Meghalaya since land belong to individuals, Himas, Raids, Clans, the Supreme Court passed a ruling that not only the land, even the minerals belong to the land owners”.
Meanwhile CEM of KHADC Pyniaid Sing Syiem in his speech thank the Governor for his consent and approval to these main acts, especially the Administration of Elaka Amendment Act 2023, KHAD Khasi Social Custom of Lineage Act Amendment Act 2023 and Regulation and Administration of Land Act among others.
Syiem informed that there are 54 Elakas in the jurisdiction of the KHADC with almost 5000 villages within these Elakas and within these villages and localities, there is Seng Kynthei/Seng Longkmie/Seng Samla Shnong and within the entire Khasi-Jaintia Hills region there are Kurs or Clans organization.
As per one research conducted by Raphael Warjri, there are almost 5000 Clans” said Syiem.
“Your present here will be a historic moment where the generation to come will know that on this day we have witness to empower and recognize the grassroots institution within the Dorbar Shnong that is the Seng Kynthei/Seng Longkmie/Seng Samla Shnong to be within this Act and within the purview of this Act” he added.
The CEM informed that all the laws of the KHADC have been translated to Khasi and these laws will be sent to all the Himas, so that these Acts will be sent to all the villages to be read by the people.
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