To The Deputy Commissioner, Request for Urgent Intervention | A very concerned citizen of Mokokchung town

To,

The Deputy Commissioner,

& Secretary, DPDB Mokokchung

Sub: Request for urgent Intervention

Sir,

With due respect to the subject cited above, I have the honour to submit herewith an earnest request for your kind and early intervention. That sir, after giving this matter considerable thought over a long period of time, I am compelled to appeal to you as a last resort for fair justice. The copy of a now-banned book that I have attached herewith will reveal everything to you and I believe you will see the darker side of Mokokchung town; a side that is known to everyone but cannot be discussed publicly for fear of retaliation. That sir, I state here the following important points which have been buried or unspoken but which I leave to your wisdom to examine and decide upon.

1. Landowners : Who exactly are the landowners? As per Order No. 478, dated August 12, 1889 (page 8) and reaffirmed by subsequent orders over the years, the rights to the land on which Mokokchung town stands, (at least the major portion of it) has been purchased by the then British Government. So the former landowners who sold it cannot be termed “landowners.” They cannot be termed as “land providers” also, as suggested by some, because they sold it. Any person, belonging to any tribe/village, owning land, purchased or Govt allotted land in the town are the actual landowners, if such a term must be used. The map included here and which should be available with the Dept of Land Records and Survey clearly shows the sold/compensated areas of the town.

2. Land grabbing & forceful Eviction : Despite the fact that compensation has been paid to the former landowners, there are numerous cases where the former landowners are quietly selling land within the compensated areas. Also, they are forcefully evicting those who cannot pay them. Many homeowners have been forced to leave their homes which they inherited from their parents & grandparents, even though they are residing in compensated areas. Numerous orders have been passed by your predecessors and the High Court over the years, restricting the former landowners from selling land that has already been compensated for but the illegal practice continues. Dobashi Court Mokokchung will have many records of cases like these involving land ownership.

Logically speaking, if the former landowners are right in their current stand that the land was never sold and if they believe it to be so, shouldn’t they publicly put forth a notice informing all the citizens of the town of their intentions? Instead of quietly targeting individuals one by one? The secrecy of their modus operandi reveals their true intentions.

3. Taxation : As abovementioned, despite Deputy Commissioner office, Government and High Court orders over the last 100+ years, to desist from collecting taxes form the residents and shops within the compensated town premises by the former landowners, they continue to so blatantly. They impose Residential tax on many of the citizens and also Landowner tax on the shops and businesses in town. Shop owners are already paying tax to MMC and membership fees to their own MCCI group, so who gave the former landowners the authority to collect tax from within the already compensated areas of town? Is it not illegal on their part to go against Govt orders? And if they say Landowner Tax for the shops, shouldn’t the real owner of the land on which the shop stands collect the tax, if any? The silence of the Govt on this illegal, criminal acts is very discouraging, to say the least.

Many citizens of Mokokchung town; especially those who have been residing here for generations town are being held hostage, for no fault of theirs, by some people with vested interests. What cannot be denied, despite many attempts to prove otherwise, is that many areas of the town have already been sold to the Govt and so the Govt and owners of land sites that have been privately purchased or allotted by the then Birtish Govt to certain individuals for their service to the Govt are the real landowners. While many citizens know this to be the truth, they are afraid to speak of this openly since there is every likelihood, as has happened before, that they will be summoned to by the neighbouring village councils, intimidated, reprimanded and fined. The book, “100 years of Mokokchung (1890-1990)” which was compiled and published by the Mokokchung Town Settlers Union in commemoration of the town’s centenary in 1990 was banned by the former landowners for obvious reasons and the members/office bearers of the union were harassed and forced to quit. That the Town Settlers Union is now defunct proves the abuse and pressure they were put through. Perhaps, if your office took this issue up in a public forum, some much needed relief will be provided to those who are being targeted by the former landowners. The map of the town over the years clearly demarcates compensated land and extension areas; therefore the sanctity of the agreement made under payment, between the Govt and the landowners 134 years ago when the town was established should be maintained and respected. And moreover, selling the lands which have been already paid for, evicting those who cannot/refuse to pay and collecting so called “Landowner tax” from shops/residents is illegal and must be treated as such under Section 441 & 420 of IPC. And those collecting illegal & unauthorized tax should be prosecuted under Section 384 of IPC. Simply because what they are doing is another form of extortion, under the guise of so called “Landowner tax.”

I therefore appeal to your wisdom and your office to kindly come to our assistance and put a stop to these illegal actions of the former landowners, before some untoward situations arise in our much envied town and district.

Thank you.

A very concerned citizen of Mokokchung town.