The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) conducted checks of non-tribal shopkeepers in Ïewduh today after it received complaints that some did not have the requisite licences from the council.
The complaint, filed on November 20, came from an organisation calling itself the Khun Kynthei U Hynniewtrep. However, despite prior intimation, no members of the organisation turned up today to witness the checks being carried out.
It was found that some of the non-tribal shopkeepers had either not renewed their KHADC licences or never applied for them. The council will take appropriate action against them.
Laitumkhrah MDC Fantin Lakadong, who is the Executive Member in charge of Taxation, was also present at the inspection along with officials from the enforcement wing of the KHADC, and he urged tribals to refrain from the practice of benami.
He said that if indigenous people are allotted shops and then sub-let them to non-tribals, they cannot then blame the KHADC or Hima Mylliem, etc.
“If the council has allotted a shop to you then work hard to stand on your own feet and not opt for an easy way out and rent it to others and at the same time blame the council for everything,” he stressed.
Although the state has had anti-benami laws for years, not a single person has ever been prosecuted successfully under the legislation.
