Shillong, Jun 29: Cabinet Minister and South Shillong MLA and advisory committee chairman Sanbor Shullai has requested Meghalaya Governor CH Vijayashankar to withhold assent to the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council’s (KHADC’s) Trading by Non-Tribals (Amendment) Bill 2026, saying the legislation is “ultra vires” the Constitution and outside the KHADC’s jurisdiction.
In his representation, which was submitted today, Shullai objected to the provision that “seeks to make it mandatory for every genuine non-tribal employer to obtain a service licence for the employment of genuine non-tribal personnel.”
“It is our submission that this bill severely overreaches the established jurisdiction of the council,” Shullai said, adding that the KHADC has gone beyond the powers granted to it under the Sixth Schedule.
He argued the original 1954 Act was confined to regulating trade and non-tribal traders have been adhering to these rules ever since. But by “attempting to extend regulatory control from independent traders to corporate/individual employees, the KHADC has infringed upon areas outside its constitutional mandate,” Shullai added.
According to him, granting assent would expose the council to litigation.
“If this legislation receives assent, it ironically exposes the overall sanctity and authority of the district council to severe legal vulnerabilities, opening the doors for business institutions to challenge the council’s executive powers in courts of law,” he wrote, adding that “arbitrary” regulatory hurdles have been introduced without proper safeguards or stakeholder consultation.
Shullai also argued that the KHADC move clashes with the state government’s own rules, that the new licence extension is discriminatory towards genuine non-tribals, that the bill violates fundamental rights and was passed solely to gain political leverage.
