Sweepers' Colony relocation: Meghalaya High Court fumes at Harijan Panchayat Committee for "playing fast and loose" with Court and State

Tempers were aflare in Courtroom 1 of the Meghalaya High Court on Monday, as the first bench took strong objection to allegations made by a party that its stand was misrepresented by the Court. [State of Meghalaya v. Harijan Panchayat Committee and ors].A Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W Diengdoh was hearing a plea concerning the relocation and rehabilitation policy for Dalit Sikhs residing at Shillong's erstwhile Sweepers' Colony.."You people are playing fast and loose!" the Chief Justice orally remarked today, while referring to contradictory submissions made in the matter on behalf of the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC) from the area..In the last hearing, the Court had recorded a submission made on behalf of the HPC that it has, in principle, agreed to the State's proposal for relocation, albeit with some suggestions and modifications in certain areas. In the meanwhile, the Shillong Times reported that the HPC had not agreed to the State's blueprint for relocation and compensation, contrary to what was submitted in Court. .Appearing for the HPC, Advocate Ritesh Khatri submitted that talks were underway with the State government on modifications to the blueprint.However, a miffed Chief Justice Banerjee demanded,"This cannot go on indefinitely. You cannot cling on to your position and say we will not budge. Move! And you are playing the fool with the Court! Someone appeared last time said, 'we agree', then goes out of the Court and says we misrepresented their statement? Where is that gentleman? Where is that advocate?".In its order, the Court noted that the HPC had given a 'false impression' at the last hearing that only minor aspects of the blueprint were left to be modified while the overall proposal was accepted, whereas "a subsequent statement was made that the Court had misrepresented the submission." "It is hoped that the government takes immediate appropriate action and brings the matter to a close as expeditiously as possible. The matter will appear a fortnight hence for the government to report on the progress made," the order stated..The issue concerns around 342 families from Shillong's Them Lew Mawlong, also known as Punjabi Lane, which has housed sweepers employed by the Municipal Board for decades.Clashes erupted in the area in May 2018 between the people of the Khasi tribe and the Sikhs living there. The city's Municipal Board then started an exercise to determine who the legal residents of Punjabi Lane were, which was met with demands to relocate the Punjabis.A high-level committee was set up by the State government in June that year to solve the issue.Eventually, the Urban Affairs Department, in its blueprint, proposed the construction of 30-40 flats in 12 blocks on an alternate 2.5-acre plot of land.The government would demolish the existing buildings at Punjabi Lane as they were not strong enough and reconstruct some units in their place, the department had stated..The Shillong Times report, relying on anonymous sources, said that the HPC members had never officially agreed to such a blueprint, even in the High Court.The committee, as per the report, has now demanded land measuring 200 square metres (approximately 2,150 sq.ft.) for each family..[Read Order]