Glossary
Meghalaya land & survey glossary
Plain-language meanings for the words on your Land holding certificate / clan record and village / locality sketch, what each one is, and which of them you actually need before joining your sheets.
12 terms
- Sixth Schedule
- The part of the Constitution that sets up Autonomous District Councils for tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram and gives them powers over land, forests and customary law. Almost all of Meghalaya is a Sixth Schedule area, which is why its land is not recorded the way a plains state's is.
- Autonomous District CouncilADC
- An elected council under the Sixth Schedule with powers to make laws on land, forests and customary matters for its area. Meghalaya has three: the Khasi Hills (KHADC), the Jaintia Hills (JHADC) and the Garo Hills (GHADC) Autonomous District Councils. They work alongside the traditional institutions and the state government, not instead of them.
- Ri Kynti
- Khasi and Jaintia land that is privately owned, by an individual or a clan, and can be inherited or transferred under customary rules. When a plot is Ri Kynti, the owner or the clan is who has to agree to a sale.
- Ri Raid
- Khasi and Jaintia community land, held by the Raid or the community rather than by a person. A member may be allowed to use or occupy a plot, but ownership stays with the community, so a plot on Ri Raid cannot be treated as the occupier's own to sell.
- Hima
- A traditional Khasi polity, sometimes translated as a Khasi state, headed by a Syiem and made up of villages. Land rights and customs can differ from one Hima to the next, which is why the Hima a plot falls in matters to a transaction.
- Syiem
- The traditional head of a Khasi Hima. In the Jaintia Hills the comparable head of an Elaka is the Dolloi. Depending on local practice, a land holding certificate or a no-objection letter may come from, or need to be endorsed by, the Syiem or Dolloi.
- Rangbah Shnong
- The headman of a Khasi or Jaintia village or locality, who heads its Dorbar Shnong, the village council. The Rangbah Shnong is usually the first person to ask about a plot's holder and its boundaries, and often signs the land holding certificate.
- A'king
- The territory of a Garo clan, owned by the clan under Garo customary law. Village land in the Garo Hills generally sits within an A'king, so the clan, through its Nokma, has a say in how that land is used and transferred.
- Nokma
- The head who looks after an A'king on behalf of the Garo clan. The Nokma does not own the clan's land personally. For land in the Garo Hills, the Nokma is the person to approach about who holds a plot.
- Land holding certificate
- A certificate from the traditional authority of an area confirming who holds a plot under customary law, often with its boundaries and a sketch. In Meghalaya it stands in for the record of rights a cadastral state would issue.
- Meghalaya Transfer of Land (Regulation) Act, 1971
- The state law that restricts transfer of land from a tribal to a non-tribal, and between non-tribals, without permission from the competent authority. Whether a transaction needs that permission depends on who the parties are, and it is settled at the Deputy Commissioner's office, not by the sketch.
- Plot or locality sketch
- The drawing a plot actually comes with in Meghalaya: a surveyor's sketch attached to a deed or certificate, or a locality plan drawn for a Dorbar Shnong. There is no state-wide cadastral map to download, so neighbouring plots are often on separate sketches that have to be joined to be read together.