The Meghalaya High Court has directed the District Council Affairs (DCA) department to file a report with views on issuance of Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificates to Khasis opting for surnames of their father or mother and to women who choose to adopt the surname of their husbands.
The order was passed after a division bench of Chief Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh on Friday admitted a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Syngkhong Rympei Thymmai (SRT).
The SRT through the petition highlighted that on July 21, 2020, the Social Welfare department notified the Deputy Commissioner, East Khasi Hills District by endorsing the advice received from the District Council Affairs Department that the Khasi Hills Autonomous District (Khasi Social Custom of Lineage) Act, 1997 did not prohibit the issuance of ST certificates to those applicants who were adopting “surnames of either from the father or mother and the practice of adopting husband surnames by non-khasi wife.
However the notification was withdrawn on May 21, 2024. The counsel for the SRT stated that as a result, issuance of ST certificates to Khasis has been stopped by the government
The court said as per the Lineage Act, all Khasis are defined under Section 2(h). In Section 3 the Act categorises each type of progeny that if both the parents are Khasi or either of the parents is a Khasi, the offspring is also a Khasi. Section 5 provides for registration and grant of Khasi Tribe certificate.
“We would like to understand how the option of a person to adopt the surname of one’s mother or father could change the obligation of the authority under the said Act to register a Khasi and grant him or her the Tribe Certificate,” the High Court added.
The next hearing of the PIL has been scheduled for July 23, 2025.
