Shillong, Oct 8: A day after the government revealed the recommendations of the High Level Committee (HLC) the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) on Friday said that it will fight “tooth and nail” against it.
“We will fight for our rights till our last breath. We will die for our land and will not allow any illegal, unlawful, unethical and unjust action by the Meghalaya government,” Gurjit Singh secretary of the HPC said.
He said that the matter is subjudice in the Supreme Court even as he added that the Meghalaya government would be committing a breach of procedures
if it insist on going ahead with its illegal plans.
The HPC secretary said that the land was gifted by the Syiem of Hima Mylliem to their ancestors and no one has the right to this land even as he said that the present Syiem is being pressured by granting him ownership of a large chunk of land.
“Under local laws he has no authority to retake back a gift given by his predecessor,” Singh said.
He also said that the tripartite agreement between the Syiem of Hima Mylliem, the Urban Affairs department and the Shillong Municipal Board has no locus standi and is patently illegal.
The HPC secretary also said that HLC headed by Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong, throughout has been biased against the “poor Sikh residents of the area.
“The recommendations of the cabinet are to be consigned to the dustbin as they are patently illegal,” Singh added.
The HPC also said that the cabinet has failed to appreciate the genesis of the case which is the poor Sikhs who have served the state are now being made victims of forcible eviction under the pressure of land mafia.
“We fail to understand why the government is in such a hurry when a status quo has been ordered by the Meghalaya High Court on 9 April 2021 after a series of litigations,” Singh said.
According to him the order of the High Court had also directed to maintain status quo on the activities of the HLC.