State
KSU wants people to reject Investment Promotion Act
Shillong, Jan 21: The Khasi Students’ Union has distributed pamphlets asking the people to reject the Meghalaya State Investment
Promotion & Facilitation Act, 2024 (MSIPF) as iit creates land banks for promotion of investments in the state.
Earlier, the HNYF and the HNLC had also opposed the Act.
The KSU activists distributed the pamphlets to students, shopkeepers, taxi drivers and others across the city.
Earlier, the KSU had submitted a letter to the chief minister Conrad K Sangma against the creation of land banks.
KSU president Lambokstarwell Marngar in the letter said, “Therefore, with all these lacunae in the Act, the Union rejects the implementation
of the Meghalaya State Investment Promotion & Facilitation Act, 2024 since it is devoid
of merits, ambiguous and it is against the benefits of the indigenous tribals of the State.”
“And as far as the amendment of the Act for creation of land banks which is yet to be
available in public domain, the Union would want to make it clear that the
Government should discard such proposals of creation of land banks and focus its
efforts on making the Act transparent and fair and in favour for the indigenous people of
Meghalaya because with the present Act, it seems that the Government has a malicious
intention to acquire land,” he said.
According to KSU leader, the Act is a draconian and tyrannical law which envisage all the powers to a handful of men in power (in particular the ministers/politicians) disregarding the views, proposition and
mandate of the people of the State adding the Union finds it inconceivable that such a
dictatorial Act was passed in the State Assembly without any debate, dialogue or thorough discussion.
Marngar said changing the name from Invest Meghalaya Agency (IMA) to Meghalaya Investment Promotion Authority (MIPA) in its Cabinet decision on January 15 does not count for anything since the ambiguous
and treacherous provisions in the Act still prevails.
“Deletion of section 34 of the Act and
including the Autonomous District Councils in the Act is not enough to guarantee that
the tribal lands are not alienated and traded to foreign entity until major changes and
amendments are brought forward in the Act,”he said.
The Union has always echoed its demand to the government to establish a firm
policy for the indigenous people of the State so that opportunities will be provided to them in the private sector as well since employment in government sector is saturated
and a minor fraction of the demand was visualised through the Meghalaya
Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy, 2024. But this policy would not be able to
suffice and meet the needs of the indigenous population of the State because of the
oppressive act which meets the needs of only a certain influential section of the
society. Implementation of the Act would not benefit the indigenous tribal in employment
opportunities but would rather aggravate influx, promote ghost companies and money
laundering and boost corruption.”
The KSU president also referred to the preamble of MSIPF Act, 2024 states that “…to simplify the regulatory
framework by reducing procedural requirements and rationalizing documents…” and said, “The very
fact that the Act is designated to do so must be invoked with caution. The dangers that
come along with over simplified regulatory framework is that it weakened consumer
protection, lax environmental regulations can lead to pollution, resource depletion, etc.,
it increases inequality and widen market domination for large corporates. By
rationalizing documents, it may cause ghost companies or shell companies to crop up
which exist only on paper and their whole purpose is to dodge taxes, launder money,
commit fraud and engage in other illegal activities.”
He said the Union would like to give a brief analysis of certain provisions of the MSIPF Act which is authoritarian and overbearing which made the Union believe that this Act is a draconian law which is enacted not for the benefit of the indigenous tribal population
but only for certain segment of the society.
The KSU also demanded certain provisions to be Immediately strike down and omitted for fair and transparent interpretation of law as
well as negating the abusive provisions.
“These are: a) Section 39 of the Act states that, “No suit or legal proceedings shall lie against the Chairman or other members of the Governing Council or High-Powered Committee or State Investment Committee or District Investment Committee or Nodal Agency or any employees of such committee in respect of anything which is done or intended to be done in good faith under this Act or any Rule made there under.”
The union said the very fact that politicians, bureaucrats and other members of different
committees are being given impunity from the ‘Rule of Law’ depicts that there are
malicious intentions by the law-makers to determine the benefits for themselves
without being subjected to any legal complications or judicial scrutiny. The fundamental principle of a just society is that everyone is subjected to the same law. Without the threat of legal consequences, politicians, bureaucrats and other members of the committee would engage in corruption, abuse of power and other illegal activities
without the fear of repercussions.
This would lead to a government that is
unaccountable to the people it is meant to serve and it also undermines the very fabric
of democratic principles. This section needs to be deleted/omitted immediately.
It also sought the deletion of Section 36 of the Act that states that, “The Government may, from time to time, issue general or special directions as they may deem necessary or expedite for the purpose of carrying out the objectives of this Act.”
This very section of the Act furthermore reflects the unpredictability and the
ambiguity of the Act and Section 33 of the Act relates with offences by companies, etc. It states that, “Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment if he proves that the offence was committed without his
knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such
offence.”
