Former Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has raised serious concerns over what he described as a “manipulated version” of the Manipur Legislative Assembly (Hill Areas Committee) Order, 1972, which he claims has led to an unchecked proliferation of villages and unauthorized appointment of village chiefs and headmen in the state’s hill areas.
In a letter to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla, the former CM urged immediate intervention to address a critical discrepancy between the original Gazette of India notification and the version published in the State Assembly’s Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business.
“There appears to be a serious and potentially deliberate alteration in the text,” Singh wrote, citing a key difference in the phrasing. The original Gazette notification includes the clause “appointment of succession of Chiefs or Headman,” whereas the State Assembly’s version reads “appointment or succession of Chief or Headman.”
Biren Singh argued that this subtle but significant change has “profound administrative and political implications,” expanding the scope from governing traditional successions to enabling fresh appointments without customary legitimacy or legal clarity.
“This change, whether intentional or inadvertent, has created an environment where new villages can be declared and new village chiefs appointed without adherence to traditional or legal norms,” Biren Singh stated, warning that this has resulted in a rapid and unregulated increase in the number of villages, some of which may not have existed historically or traditionally.
He further highlighted the complications this has caused on the ground, including disputes over land ownership, ethnic settlement patterns, and village recognition.
Biren Singh has requested an independent investigation to determine how and when the altered wording was introduced, and under whose authority. He also called for a comprehensive audit to assess the number of villages declared and chiefs appointed under the revised provision.
The former chief minister’s letter comes amid long-standing debates over the chieftainship system in Manipur’s hill areas. Although the state passed the Manipur Hill Areas (Acquisition of Chiefs’ Rights) Act in 1967 to abolish hereditary chieftainship—with presidential assent granted the same year—the Act has never been enforced. As a result, traditional chiefs continue to hold sweeping powers over land and settlements.
Biren Singh noted that while the rest of India abolished feudal systems under the Zamindari Abolition Act, 1951, the Kuki tribes in Manipur still practice a form of it through chieftainship. In contrast, neighbouring Mizoram abolished the system in 1954.
