JCILPS opposes gazette notification on land sale
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, July 24 2021:
The Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS) has raised strong objection against the recent gazette notification regarding sale of land issued by deputy secretary (revenue) while terming it as antithesis to the demands being raised by the Committee for years.
In a statement, JCILPS opposed the Article No.1 clause (a) of the notification, which necessitates permanent residence certificate issued by district magistrate for the purpose of buying land and asked the modalities for identifying an individual as permanent resident of the state.
The Committee also queried how far the government can uphold the rules such as verification of criminal records & source of income of the buyers, and decision of cabinet sub-committee for finalising the deed since powerful and rich individuals have always the power to tweak such rules in the state.
In the absence of proper protective mechanism, the state would be facing huge pressure in the years to come.
Once the train service reaches Imphal, more and more non-locals will enter the state and corporates and rich individuals will force their way to buy lands from the indigenous people by offering higher price and by marrying local women, the statement said.
The gazette notification regarding flawed guidelines for implementing ILPS in the state was issued on December 31, 2019.Since then, the government has done nothing to amend the guidelines to make the system effective in protecting the indigenous people of the state.
The guideline lacks definitions of indigenous people, native people and permanent residents of the state.
It does not have the provision to make 1951 as base year to identify native people of the state, the statement said while demanding the government to bring in the articles and clauses mentioned in The Manipur People Bill 2018 into the guidelines of ILPS.
The Committee understands that the government is facing a serious crisis due to Covid-19 pandemic, but the issue raised by it is also undeniable one, the statement said and appealed to the government to take up necessary steps in this regard in the larger interest of the people of the state and future generations.