Morung Express News
Dimapur | October 10
In another election-related extra constitutional expulsion case, the Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench, has suspended an excommunication notice served to an individual, of Shetap village in Longleng district, who defied the directive of a conglomerate of villages to support an allegedly consensus candidate.
The notice was served by a collective of 7 villages, falling in the Namsang area of Longleng district and which is part of the 49 Tamlu Assembly seat, in March after the conclusion of the conclusion of the elections to the 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly.
The expulsion notice banned one W Chingkam Phom — the petitioner in the case — from the community for a decade, with the condition that he could only regain citizenship, after completing the 10-year period in exile, by paying a fine of Rs. 50,000. His crime was that he did not support the candidate chosen by the collective of 7 villages under the banner of Namsang Citizens’ Union.
Phom subsequently took his case to the Deputy Commissioner, Longleng, seeking redress in June. The DC then directed the ADC, Tamlu, for taking the necessary legal action, who issued summon letters on July 18, 2023, to the Namsang Citizens’ Union that arbitrarily excommunicated the petitioner.
“It is the case of the petitioner that the ADC Tamlu is yet to take action on the summon letter dated 18/7/2023,” read the order issued by Justice Kakheto Sema on October 10. Aggrieved by the delayed response from the ADC, Tamlu, the petitioner eventually approached the High Court seeking the court’s direction to quash the excommunication notice served on him.
In his ruling, the judge said that the excommunication notice was “prima facie illegal” and accordingly suspended the said notice. Notices were also served to the respondents to respond to the decision within 4 weeks.
The respondents named in the petition included the Nagaland state government represented by the Chief Secretary and the DC, Longleng besides the Namsang Citizens’ Union, Bura Namsang Village Council, Ngetchongching Village Council, Shemnyuching Village Council, Shetap Village Council, Namhaching Village Council, Yanglok Village Council and Apoijei Village Council.
The order further clarified that the suspension of the excommunication notice would not hinder the ADC, Tamlu from pursuing the summon letter dated July 18, 2023. It directed the ADC to take necessary actions in accordance with the law.
