Guwahati: Former Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh has raised serious concerns over what he describes as a “manipulated version” of a central legal order governing the state’s hill areas.
In a letter addressed to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Wednesday, Singh alleged that discrepancies between the Gazette of India and the Manipur Legislative Assembly’s rules could have far-reaching implications for the governance of hill regions.
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Singh compared the original 1972 Hill Areas Committee Order, passed by Parliament and published in the Gazette, with the version currently included in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the Manipur Assembly.
He highlighted a critical change in phrasing, where the Gazette uses the term “the appointment of succession of Chiefs or Headman,” the Assembly’s version reads “the appointment or succession of Chief or Headman.”
“This may seem minor, but replacing ‘of’ with ‘or’ dramatically alters the scope of the provision,” Singh wrote. He warned that the change opens up legal room to appoint new village chiefs or headmen without adhering to traditional norms of succession.
According to Singh, this has already led to the proliferation of new villages, some of which may lack historical or customary legitimacy.
He urged the Governor to independently investigate who changed the wording and under whose authority it was altered. Singh also called on authorities to audit how many new villages officials have declared and how many chiefs or headmen they have appointed since the altered rule took effect.
“The state must determine when this textual modification occurred and who approved it,” he added, emphasizing the political and administrative ramifications it could trigger, especially regarding land ownership, ethnic settlement disputes, and village recognition in conflict-sensitive areas.
Singh’s letter comes amid ongoing tensions between Meitei and Kuki communities, with ethnic violence having claimed over 260 lives and displaced nearly 50,000 people since 2023.
The controversy also connects to a long-pending legislative effort to abolish the chieftainship system in Manipur.
Although the Manipur Hill Areas (Acquisition of Chiefs’ Rights) Act, 1967 received presidential assent that same year, the state has never operationalized the law.
This failure has allowed hereditary chieftainship to persist, primarily among the Kuki tribes, who continue to claim and administer land through traditional authority structures.
In contrast, neighbouring Mizoram, which shares ethnic and cultural ties with Manipur’s hill tribes, abolished chieftainship in 1954 when it was part of Assam. Singh and other leaders, including BJP MLA Rajkumar Imo Singh, have called for Manipur to follow suit.
“Manipur remains the only state in the northeast where this Act isn’t implemented,” Imo Singh said earlier this year. “The time has come to enforce it.”
As the state continues to grapple with ethnic unrest and competing land claims, Singh’s warning highlights yet another layer of legal and political complexity in Manipur’s deeply divided landscape.