Shillong, Mar 6: Invoking its constitutional powers under the Sixth Schedule, the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council has issued a notification barring non-tribal persons from purchasing or claiming land in the Garo Hills districts of Meghalaya, officials said on Friday.
However, the status of land legally held by non-tribal persons would not be altered.
The council said the directive under the Sixth Schedule was issued with a singular aim to safeguard, preserve and protect the land, customary rights and traditional ownership of indigenous tribal communities in the region and to prevent alienation of such lands to non-tribal persons.
The Sixth Schedule is specific to the autonomous tribal areas in the four northeastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram. The Sixth Schedule provides for the administration of certain tribal areas as autonomous entities.
According to the notification issued on Thursday, no person belonging to a non-tribal community shall acquire, purchase, hold, possess, inherit, lease, mortgage, transfer or claim any right, title or interest over any land situated within the Garo Hills districts.
It further stated that any transfer, settlement, mutation, registration or recognition of land in favour of a non-tribal person will not be considered valid and will not be acted upon by any authority.
The council also prohibited benami transactions or arrangements in which land is held in the name of a tribal person for the benefit of a non-tribal individual, stating that such holdings would be treated as void and unenforceable.
Any right or possession obtained in violation of the notification will be liable to cancellation, resumption or restoration in accordance with the law, it added.
However, the council clarified that the order would not affect non-tribal persons who had lawfully inherited or acquired ancestral property prior to the coming into force of the applicable land transfer laws or regulations.
It also stated that any holding or transaction expressly sanctioned by the government or a competent authority under existing laws would remain valid, though such exempted holdings cannot be further transferred without prior approval of the competent authority.
The notification has come into force with immediate effect.
The latest directive follows another notification issued by the council last month barring non-indigenous persons from contesting the elections to the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council scheduled to be held on April 10. (PTI)
