A file photo of Meghalaya High Court. | Photo Credit: https://meghalayahighcourt.nic.in
GUWAHATI
A law that restricts the issuance of Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificates to individuals who adopt their father’s or husband’s surname has come under judicial scrutiny in matrilineal Meghalaya.
On Wednesday (July 23, 2025), the High Court of Meghalaya sought a response from the State’s Advocate General to a petition challenging certain provisions of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District (Khasi Social Custom of Lineage) Act, 1997, which aims to preserve the matrilineal structure of the Khasi community.
The public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by Syngkhong Rymphei Thymmai, a group advocating reforms and a shift from the matrilineal to a patrilineal system. The group has questioned the legal validity of the restrictions imposed under the Act.
The petition refers to an official letter issued by the State’s Social Welfare Department on July 21, 2020, to the Deputy Commissioners of East and West Khasi Hills districts. The letter clarified that the Lineage Act did not prevent individuals from adopting surnames from either parent and permitted non-Khasi women to adopt their husband’s surname.
However, the department subsequently withdrew the letter on May 21, 2024. Following this, authorities allegedly began denying ST certificates to Khasi individuals who used their father’s or husband’s surname.
The group contended that surname preference should not form the basis for denying an ST certificate, provided the applicant met the bloodline and lineage criteria under the Act, as amended in 2023.
“We do not think, at this stage, that for the disposal of the public interest litigation, affidavits are required. If affidavits are required at a later stage, we shall call for them, but in the interest of the Khasi community at large, this issue should be resolved as expeditiously as possible,” an order by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh read.
The court has listed the matter for further hearing on August 7.
Published – July 24, 2025 07:01 pm IST
