The Maitshaphrang has invited clans in the Khasi-Jaiñtia Hills to attend a meeting to discuss on the proposed amendment of the Meghalaya Succession to Self-Acquired Property, Khasi and Jaintia Special Provision Act, 1986.
Convenor Michael Syiem said the meeting will be held at Jaiaw Lumshyiap community hall on April 15. Syiem wants the act to also cover ancestral property.
“The system of inheritance in our society is that if the parents die with no daughters to inherit, the claimants would be from the mother’s side leaving the sons literally on the streets,” Syiem said, adding, “That is why we feel that this law is urgently required.”
He said that the proposed amendment aims to strengthen the state’s economy, particularly in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills region.
According to Syiem, the existing legislation only covers property that a woman acquires during the course of her lifetime and not that which she had inherited from her mother or ancestors.
He also stressed that the word ‘equitable’ does not only mean equal but being “fair and impartial”.
