Shillong, May 11: The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council has decided to file an appeal before Meghalaya High Court against the state government for its alleged failure to respect the court order relating to the land under Saitsohpen Elaka.

“We have decided to file an appeal as it seems the state government has failed to honour the order passed by the High Court,” KHADC CEM Pynshngain N. Syiem told reporters after a meeting of the executive committee held here on Friday.

Earlier, the KHADC and the Elaka Saitsohpen had jointly filed a petition against the state government alleging that the government was claiming the land under jurisdiction of the Elaka.

However, the Meghalaya High Court in its order passed in September last year, while disposing of the petition, had suggested both the parties to approach the appropriate Court to decide on the matter. According to the order, the question of ownership of the land in dispute is purely a matter of evidence.

The Court has also maintained that “no one should be dispossessed without due process of law”.

In the petition, Tarkly Malngiang, Sirdar of Elaka Saitsohpen and the KHADC said that they are the owners of the land in the Elaka Saitsohpen area in the East Khasi Hills District which is sought to be forcefully acquired by the State Government in gross contravention to the fundamental rights of the petitioners/people and also in contravention of the Statutory mandate of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Act, 2013.

They alleged that the State Government has proceeded to acquire the said land forcibly and has even started construction of buildings on the said land.

The people have been forcibly dispossessed by the state government on the erroneous pretext that the land in the said area vests with the government and not with the petitioners which the fact is completely baseless and contrary to the facts on record and the statutory provisions which clearly indicate that the land vests with the private persons who are the original owners of the land, it stated.

The petition also stated that the action of the state government in dispossessing the people is wholly irresponsible in as much as the government itself did not have clarity on the status of the land which is evidenced by the fact that the government had initially initiated statutory land acquisition proceedings, however the said proceedings were suspended upon a misconceived presumption that the lands were government lands.

Meanwhile, the KHADC has decided to meet Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on May 15, as a follow up to the decision taken by the state government during a tripartite meeting held on December last year regarding the issue related to building byelaws.

Meeting of all MDCs along with traditional heads will be held on May 14 before meeting the Chief Minister.