Resisting relocation, Shillong Sikhs allege HC order violated

Shubhadeep Choudhury

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 30

A fresh wave of anxiety has gripped the Sikh residents of Meghalaya capital Shillong’s Harijan Colony in the wake of the high-level committee on the relocation of the community members submitting its report to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Tuesday.

The committee, under the chairmanship of Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong, was constituted in June 2018 to look into the demand by the local Khasi outfits for shifting the Sikhs, who have been living in the area for generations. There was communal violence in the area in 2018, which had paralysed life in Shillong for weeks.

Gurjit Singh, Harijan Panchayat Committee chief, said handing over the report at this juncture was violation of the Meghalaya High Court order pronounced on April 9 this year. “We will again have to move the HC as the committee is indifferent to the court’s order,” Gurjit told The Tribune over phone from Shillong.

He also demanded that the Meghalaya Government provide the Harijan Panchayat a copy of the report as the Sikhs were stakeholders in the matter.

According to the panchayat committee, the government panel was appointed for examination of records and for making recommendations regarding relocation of the Sikhs. “But the panel went beyond its mandate and has taken decisions regarding evicting the Harijan Colony residents,” it said.

In the April 9 order, Justice Ranjit More acknowledged the fear of panchayat committee as “justified” and asked for status quo to be maintained with regard to Harijan Colony.

The CM refused to divulge the content of the report. “It will be discussed by the Cabinet,” he added.