Staff Reporter

Shillong, Aug 30: Minister in-charge Revenue & Disaster Management Kyrmen Shylla today said the intention of the government is very clear on the matter of transfer of land and that the Act and Rules are followed in letter and spirit, so as to protect the interest of the tribals of the state.

He was replying to a half an hour discussion tabled by opposition VPP legislator from North Shillong Adelbert Nongrum in the Assembly.

“Each and every case of land transfer within the purview of the Act has to come to the Revenue and Disaster Management department,” Shylla said.

“It is clear that the government while processing any case of transfer, mutation, mortgage, will etc, proceeds as per the provisions laid down in the Meghalaya Transfer of Land Regulation Act 1971 and the Meghalaya Transfer of Land Regulation Rules, 1974,” he added.

The minister said that Section 3 of the Act along with the amendments from time to time has to be read in totality to avoid the confusion.

Section 3 mentioned no land in Meghalaya shall be transferred by a tribal to a non-tribal or by a non-tribal to another non-tribal except with the previous permission of the competent authority.

“This section was further strengthened by an amendment as early as in the year 1973 by adding a stipulated condition which stated that “provided that the Government of Meghalaya is satisfied may, from time to time, by notification, command against any transfer of land within such area or areas as may be specified in the notification and thereupon the competent authority shall not sanction any such transfer of land under the provision of this Act, within such area or areas,” he said while adding

“During the course of time, this section was further amended by the Legislature in the year 1991 which added another proviso which stated that – “Provided further that no notification made under the preceding proviso shall apply to transfer of land for any of the purposes mentioned in clause (e) or clause (f) of sub-section (1) of Section 4.”

Further, Shylla said that the enactment of the Meghalaya Transfer of Land (Regulation) Act, 1971 is to regulate transfer of land in Meghalaya for the protection of the interest of the Scheduled Tribes of the state.

He said that the transfer of the private land follows a stringent procedure which is: The buyer submits an application to the concerned deputy commissioner. The application includes details such as the names and addresses of buyer and seller, description of the land, sale agreement and other verified documents.

Upon receiving the request, the deputy commissioner verified the legitimacy of the request and evaluated the proposal in accordance with the provisions laid down in the Meghalaya Land Transfer (Regulation) Act, 1972.

The proposal is then forwarded with recommendation to the Revenue & Disaster Management Department for approval, and on further examination of the proposal/request and if it is deemed appropriate and in accordance with the provisions laid down in the Meghalaya Land Transfer (Regulation) Act, 1972, the proposal/request is approved by the competent authority, he added.