ZCA flays Chief Minister's statement

CHURACHANDPUR ,  Jul 11
The Zomi Chiefs Association expressed its reservation against the statement made by the Chief Minister of Manipur that every land in the State belongs to the Government during a mass tree plantation at Mangjol village, Kangpokpi on July 5.
The Zomi Chiefs Association in a statement informed that the claims made by the CM lacks historical astuteness and political sensitivity. As a state entity, Manipur, particularly has to be understood as the coalescence of communities and amalgamation of their territories.
Historically, it should be noted that the hill tribes remained unaffected within each of their self-administered villages when the princely state of Manipur was conquered by the British in 1892; the hill tribes were separately annexed later on, it added.
The British then administered the princely state through the Maharaja while the hill areas were separately administered by the British Political Agent through the Chiefs.
After the partition of India, the Manipur Merger Agreement was signed by the Maharaja which ceded 700 square miles or 26500 paris/hectares of his territory to India, it added.
The association stated that along with the attainment of statehood, Article 371(C) was enacted in the Constitution of India which distinctly demarcates Manipur into Hill Areas and Valley Areas by the President of India giving special protection to the tribal settlements. This provision places the Hill areas out of the purview and regulation of the Manipur Land Revenue & Land Reforms Act 1960.
The Zomi Chiefs Association also mentioned that the claims made by the CM that every land in the State belongs to the government was a contravention to the Constitution and an insult to the ancestral tribal administration of Chieftainship land holding system, which is much older than the government he represents.
Furthermore, the attempted regulation of sale, purchase and gift of land on the pretext of Section 7 of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873 or Inner Line Permit (ILP) vide a  Memo date July 7, 2021 of Revenue Department, Government of Manipur was ultra vires to the Constitution, it added.
The Zomi Chiefs Association urged the Chief Minister to refrain from making sweeping statements which has the potential to misinform the public of the plural historical narrative, legislative administration and land laws with the subtle intent to disenfranchise the tribal people of the ancestral rights and holding system.
The Association also highlighted that any desire to talk about the land and its ownership, particularly in the Hill Areas of Manipur, should begin with well-informed history and correct interpretation of the laws governing it.
The Zomi Chiefs Association further urged the Government to respect the traditional land holding and transfer system of the tribal people in the Hill areas as regulated by Article 371(C) in order to maintain the delicate communal equilibrium of the State.