A case is now pending in the Meghalaya High Court over the status of an almost triangular plot of vacant land at what is known as the Fire Brigade crossing in Lummawrie, Laitumkhrah here.
A lady Philamon Mawrie has filed a writ appeal in the High Court claiming to have inherited the land from her grandfather and protests the issuance of a letter by the Deputy Commissioner requiring the appellant’s claim to be adjudicated by the very Dorbar Shnong and its headman who are contesting the appellant’s claim to the land in question.
During a hearing held on March 14, the Dorbar Shnong Laitumkhrah and its headman through their lawyer told the High Court that as early as in 1935, the relevant plot of land was donated by U Mon Lyngdoh to the Shillong Municipality on condition that if it were converted into a park it would bear the name ‘Rev. U Mon Lyngdoh Park’ and that the heirs of Lyngdoh would have the right to erect a monument in his memory in a corner of the land.
However, the land is not suitably identified in the letters exchanged between Lyngdoh and the Municipality in 1935 and it was stated by Mawrie that the land that is referred to as “the piece of vacant land opposite to Swiss Cottage” in Lyngdoh’s letter of March 11, 1935 is a completely different parcel of land where at a park now exists.
However, the Dorbar Shnong Laitumkhrah and its headman claimed that the land that was donated by Lyngdoh to the Municipality is the exact almost triangular plot of land at the heart of the relevant crossing which the Dorbar Shnong has been in possession of for more than 80 years.
According to the division bench of the High Court, disputes as to title to land cannot be conveniently addressed or adjudicated in summary proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution of India which are, generally, decided on affidavit evidence.
The court asked the two parties to approach an appropriate forum where the title may be decided in accordance with law.
“However, during the interregnum, the use of the land will have to be monitored and, for such purpose, the Dorbar Shnong and headman are requested to produce any material that may better demonstrate that the land donated by Lyngdoh in 1935 is the same land that the appellant now seeks to lay a claim to,” the High Court said.
For such purpose, the High Court sought for production of relevant revenue records or municipality maps of the area. The court also said that it will be open to Mawrie to rely on whatever records that she may be able to bring. The case will come up for hearing on April 5.
