27 villages against inclusion in Kangpokpi dist
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 06 2017: Dismayed over the inclusion of their villages in the newly created Kangpokpi district, chairmen of 27 Liangmai villages have taken their situation to the Governor of Manipur, the Chief Minister of Manipur, Ministers/Parliamentary Secretaries and officials concerned .

Submitting a memorandum to these authorities, the 27 Liangmai village chairmen under Kangpokpi district placed several “grounds” as to why the inclusion of 27 Liangmai villages in Kangpokpi district should be “revoked" by the Government .

One point the memorandum mentioned is that it is "impugned order" which is a mere executive action which cannot supersede the mandatory provision of Article 371C of the Constitution of India .

The memorandum also said that all executive actions which operate to the prejudice of any person or any community must have the authority of law to support them.

"However, in the case at hand, the impugned order was issued without supporting the authority of law" it added .

Another ground is that the "impugned order" was issued by the State Government "abruptly" without any plan and infrastructure and was not reflected in the Budget of the State which is hit by mandatory provision of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Manipur Legislative Assembly .

The third ground is that "Article 243 ZD provides to constitute Committee for district planning, however, the State Government has never constituted District Planning Committee in favour of hill districts of Manipur as such creation of new districts on 8/12/2016 is "void ab initio, arbitrary, bias and unconstitutional" which cannot be created upon .

The fourth ground is that "it has a settled position of law that any scheme of executive action of Government which will not extend any benefit to the poor people cannot be within the purview of public purposes.

Hence, the impugned order is not sustainable in the eye of law" .

The fifth ground placed by the 27 Liangmai village chairmen says that "the Government activity must be informed with reason and be guided by the public interest" .

According to the memorandum, the Government cannot act in a manner which would benefit a private party at the cost of the State.

"That action of State must be reasonable and must aim to achieve social justice.

However, the State Government has failed to do so," it charged .

The 27 Liangmai village chairmen said that compared to the newly created Kangpokpi district "we have closer proximity with the people of Tamenglong district traditionally and culturally as such in the event of inclusion of 27 Liangmai villages, the State Government should have taken into account of the delimitation of constituencies, bifurcation of tribe, availability of transportation etc."
However, the State Government failed to do so, they lamented, adding "thereby the inclusion of 27 Liangmai villages in the newly created district amounts to illegal action, is biased, arbitrary and unconstitutional" .

The memorandum also said they have opposed the creation of the new district and placing of 27 Liangmai villages in the newly created district (Kangpokpi) "but our efforts and resentment remain unheard" .

The memorandum said that at the time of creating seven new districts the matter should have been referred to the Hill Area Committee (HAC) as guaranteed under Article 371C of the Constitution of India and the subsequent order of June 20, 1972 issued by the then President VV Giri.

"However, the State Government has failed to do so," it added .

The 27 Liangmai chairmen added that the "impugned order" of December 8, 2016 was passed by the previous Congress Government with the motive of creating chaos and confusion by dividing the community in the State of Manipur for their “political mileage by by-passing many prevailing laws…” .

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