SHILLONG:
Meghalaya High Court, on July 3, slammed the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) for “playing fast and loose both with the government and with the Court”.
A two-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W Diengdoh, was hearing the case on the relocation of residents from Harijan Colony in Them Iew Mawlong.
“It appears that the respondents (HPC) are playing fast and loose both with the government and with the Court. A false impression was given on the last occasion that a minor matter had to be attended to but a subsequent statement was made that the Court had misinterpreted the submission,” the order issued on July 3 read.
The court has asked the government to take immediate appropriate action and brings the matter to a close as expeditiously as possible.
The matter will appear a fortnight and the government is expected to report on the progress made. The next hearing will be held on July 18.
Last month, the Harijan Panchayat Committee accepted the relocation proposal blueprint prepared by the State government, with suggestions to modify certain areas.
The Blueprint proposed relocating the 342 Harijan families from Them Iew Mawlong to Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) at Bishop Cotton Road.
The government had come up with a blueprint after rejecting the April 25, 2022 proposal of the HPC that 200 square meters of land be provided to each of the 342 families within the European ward besides bearing the cost of construction of their homes.