Rules published by assembly on hill area governance manipulated, alleges ex-Manipur CM Biren Singh

Imphal | Former Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh alleged that a “manipulated” version of the rules on hill area governance, published by the Manipur Assembly, has created an environment for the establishment of new villages and appointment of village chiefs without proper legal or traditional authority.

He claimed that this change has opened doors for a "rapid and unchecked" increase in the number of villages, many of which might not have existed in the past.

In a letter to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Wednesday, Singh claimed that a key discrepancy exists between the original notification published in the Gazette of India and the version adopted in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the Manipur Legislative Assembly (Hill Areas Committee) 1972.

“There appears to be a serious and potentially deliberate alteration in the text of the Manipur Legislative Assembly (Hill Areas Committee) Order, 1972, as published in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business,” Singh alleged.

He also claimed, “The original order, passed by the Parliament of India, was published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary. However, a careful comparison between the original gazette notification and the manipulated version published by the state assembly reveals a crucial discrepancy, potentially leading to significant implications for governance in Manipur's hill areas.”

The former CM also alleged that the "manipulated version" in the Manipur assembly-published rules on governance in the hill areas has given rise to an "environment where new villages can be declared and new village chiefs or a headmen can be appointed without customary legitimacy or legal clarity" and has opened "the door for a rapid and unchecked proliferation of villages, many of which may not have existed historically or traditionally".

Explaining the discrepancy, Singh claimed that the Gazette of India notification has the word "of" in the clause - the appointment of succession of chief or headman - while in the version published in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business by the Manipur Assembly, the same clause appears as ‘the appointment or succession of chief or headman'.

This "distorted" clause leads to administrative and political implications, Singh claimed.

“This seemingly minor linguistic alteration constitutes a significant distortion with profound administrative and political implications. By substituting the word 'of' with 'or', the scope of the provision is broadened to potentially allow new appointments of chiefs or headmen, rather than merely governing traditional succession practices,” he wrote in the letter.

Singh asked the governor to take immediate steps to look into the issue and also requested for an independent investigation to find out how and when the wording in the assembly version was altered and under whose authority.

"It is equally important to conduct a comprehensive audit to ascertain how many villages have been declared after this adoption and how many new chiefs and headmen have been appointed under this modified provision," Singh said.

Several civil society organisations have demanded the scrapping of the chieftainship system in the hill areas to end the rule of village chiefs.

The state in 1967 had passed a law to abolish hereditary chieftainship, and the then President had also given assent to the bill the same year. However, the Act was never enforced, according to the civil society organisations.