SHILLONG:
The Meghalaya High Court, on March 17, asked the state to resolve the matter related to relocation of 342 families of Harijan Colony from Them Iew Mawlong within April.
This came a day after the state government had given time till April 10 for the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) to submit its response to the proposal for relocation of the families to the existing land of the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB).
“The parties are requested to resolve the matter in the month of April itself so that the reallocation, if any, can take place within the next two or three months and the matter given a final quietus,” the division bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee said in its order.
The next hearing will be held on April 24.
After chairing a meeting of the Urban Affairs department on Thursday, Deputy Chief Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar had informed that the department has not agreed to the request made by the HPC to give another three months’ time for them to respond to the government’s proposal.
“We have decided to give them till April 10, to reply to us,” Dhar had said, adding that “After this, only the high level committee will call a meeting to take a final decision on the matter.”
On September 29, 2022,the state government had presented the blueprint to the HPC during a meeting, which indicated its decision to construct multi-storey flats at the existing official quarters of the SMB for relocation of the 342 families.
The state government had outrightly rejected an earlier proposal by the HPC, submitted on April 25,2022, to reserve 200 square metres of land for each of the 342 families within the European ward, besides bearing the cost of construction of their homes.