Tribal chiefs stand on Village Authority Act 1956
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, August 18, 2012:
Sticking to the stand that Village Authority Act 1956 should be maintained in all the five hill districts, All Tribal Chiefs' Forum Manipur cautioned that amending the legislation might create great misunderstanding between the hill people and the Government.
Speaking to newspersons at Manipur Press Club today, Forum president Tongpu Kipgen informed that executive body meeting of the Forum held earlier in the day at Hotel Kristina, Paona Bazar resolved on adopting the same decision taken by the executive body.
The decisions include condemnation against the proposed move of the Govt to omit the institute of chieftainship/ex-officio chairman of the village authority; retaining the Land Revenue Act (Land Records) 1971 in the hill areas; opposing the proposed Village Authority Act 2011; and objection against the proposed deduction of certain percentage of the Central Govt assistance granted to village authorities to the autonomous district councils and line department.
Conveying that on a number of occasion Chairman of the Hill Areas Committee had been intimated against any move to dilute constitutional power of the village authorities, Tongpu voiced strong resentment that the sincere appeal has failed to evoke positive response from authorities concerned.
Any move detrimental to interest of the hill people would compel the people to launch intense agitation, he asserted.