Did a single word change Manipur’s future? Biren Singh flags ‘manipulated’ Hill Governance Rules

Imphal, June 26: A controversy has erupted in Manipur over what former chief minister N Biren Singh has described as a “manipulated version” of a key governance clause for the state’s hill areas.

In a letter to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Singh flagged a crucial discrepancy between the original Gazette of India notification and the version published in the Manipur Legislative Assembly’s Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business.

The issue centers around the Manipur Legislative Assembly (Hill Areas Committee) Order, 1972, which was passed by the Indian Parliament and published in the Gazette of India (Extraordinary). Singh alleges that the version adopted in the state assembly contains a “serious and potentially deliberate alteration” of its wording—an alteration with far-reaching consequences for governance in the sensitive hill regions.

According to Singh, the original Gazette version refers to “the appointment of succession of Chiefs or Headman,” while the assembly version alters it to “the appointment or succession of Chief or Headman.”

Calling this shift from “of” to “or” a significant distortion, Singh argued that the change affects the legal interpretation of the clause and, by extension, the powers and responsibilities of the Hill Areas Committee. “Such a deviation could fundamentally alter administrative control and customary authority structures in the hills,” he warned.