Taking cognizance of the developments that has gone against the provisions of the Meghalaya Land Transfer Act, CALA member and Khasi Students Union (KSU) general secretary Hamlet Dohling said, “In the name of religion, educational institutions and NGOs, acres and acres of land have been acquired by people from outside the state and thus defeated the very legislation that aims at safeguarding the interest of the indigenous people”.
“They used section 41 (e) and (f) of the act for their back door entry and it is on this ground that we will demand from the government to delete these clause from the Act”, further said Dohling.
“We wanted this clause to be deleted and any acquisition of land should be with the proper knowledge of the traditional institutions and other bodies concern”, stated Dohling. CALA also wanted that the section 2 (m) of the Meghalaya Transfer Act be amended in order to exempt certain tribes from the purview of the provisions. The obvious target is on four communities that have a good presence in pockets of the seven districts of the state. CALA's intention is clear that only the three indigenous tribes of Meghalaya –Khasi, Jaintia and Garo should enjoy the rights to buy and sell land in the state in order to check further alienation of land. According to Dohling, CALA will meet on the June 22 to formalize their proposal to be submitted to the State Government.