Shillong, Jun 23: The district council has passed the Khasi Hills Autonomous District (Trading by Non-Tribals) (Amendment) Bill, 2026 that mandates employers to obtain a non-tribal employee’s service license for every non-tribal worker or agent engaged in trade or business.
This was informed by KHADC Chief Executive Member (CEM) Winston Tony Lyngdoh on Tuesday. He said this is specifically for the unorganized sectors engaged as labourers, who are unregulated.
According to Lyngdoh such employees do not pay professional taxes but may pay a nominal fee to the labour department. He said that the KHADC council believes that regulating non-tribal labourers is essential to protect the interests of indigenous individuals in the state.
To address this, the CEM said the Non-Tribal Employee’s Service Licence was passed by the district council, which mandates that any employers bringing labourers from outside the state will have to pay to the council.
On allegations raised by MDC Barikupar Synrem regarding the council’s trading license policy, Lyngdoh stated that between the years 2021-22 and 2023-24, around 200 trading licenses had been issued. Furthermore, during the current executive committee’s tenure that began in 2025, 99 licenses have been granted, with 30 issued this year alone.
Lyngdoh also stated that a trading license had been denied to Blinkit due to concerns about its potential to hinder local businesses. He said that if the intention of any company is to disrupt local economic activities, the council will not issue the necessary licenses.
According to the CEM if license was given to the company, around 4000 grocery and meat shops belonging to the indigenous people will have to shut shop.
He claimed that the company is doing whatever in its means to be able to open the business in the state and a NoC has also been procured from one of the localities in Shillong.
Lyngdoh pointed out that few other companies doing home delivery were shut by the KHADC since if allowed shops doing business in the city will have to close down.
