Lokayukta: IAS officer Reiterates Faith in Law, ‘Cleared in Past Cases, No Time to Keep Fighting’

In a preliminary inquiry, the order of which was made public on August 2, the Manipur Lokayukta had alleged that IAS officer Pame Armstrong “did not give full care and attention” in modifying the compensation award dated June 15, 2017, in a case concerning a railway project.

Pame has refuted all the charges levelled against him by the preliminary inquiry. He has to respond to the notice issued by the Lokayukta before August 21, 2023.

In an email interview with The Wire, he explained his position on the matter.

In your view, what are the origins of this fraught issue over land acquisition in Manipur for the Railways?

Armstrong Pame: When the land acquisition process at Marangjing in Manipur started in 2010-11, there was absolutely no interference whatsoever from the present petitioners who now claim that the entire land of the village is a common land. The earlier phase of compensation was paid to the concerned land owners. If, as per the claim of the petitioners, land in the hill areas of Manipur is a common village property and that there is no individual land owner, I think there would be an uproar everywhere else across the hill districts of Manipur.

I have personally handled compensation matters in the area of Tamenglong and land acquired for various projects have been under the name of the land owners. Just to turn it in their favour, they cannot suddenly change the land holding systems of the tribals.

The present issue has its origins in 2014-15, when the Railways sent a requirement for over 137 acres of land in and around Makhuam-Kharam Pallen-Pungmuon villages area. When the District Collector (DC) at that time deputed the concerned Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) of Tamenglong to do field survey, there was an opposition, too, from this group of villagers led by Gongchalung and his party against the Pungmoun village.

Despite all these pressures to stop the land acquisition process, the then DC sent the requirements of this land to the Revenue Department, Government of Manipur, indicating clearly under whose village the jurisdiction of the land falls. It may clearly be seen from the letter that the portion of 37 acres was under Marangjing village, 22 acres disputed while 77 acres was under the Pungmuon village.

As a follow up of the field report, the then DC, Ngaranchan Luikham, forwarded the entire evaluation along with financial implications to the concerned authorities along with the field survey reports, with names of the land owner in the case of 37 and 77 acres while that of 22 acres as disputed. It may be noted that the compensation amount for 22 acres, which has been recorded as disputed, still is not awarded to anyone.

I would not like to go into the process of the land acquisition because this would mean undermining the acts of former DCs who, in all their wisdom, had carried out the entire process judiciously following all laid down rules and procedures.

The Marangjing village had the habit of taking law and order in their own hands by burning down vehicles and machinery if anything goes against their favour. When they lost the case on June 16, 2017, it was the same; things went out of control, resulting in the damage of several properties of both public and private parties.

The Maringjing village being a big village always wants to superimpose their authority over smaller villages like Pungmoun, despite having lost almost all the cases they themselves have filed. At any given instances, they would collect all the keys to the machines and immediately halt the work within their village jurisdiction.

If I am not wrong, theirs is the only village which had expelled several families of its own native villagers for supporting the order of the district administration and supporting the Railway works, after their houses being totally ransacked and destroyed by their own villagers. These families now live in and around the Imphal area in other lands, unable to come back and settle in their own land.

House of Mr. Gaijinlung Kahmei – one of the land owners of Makhuam village – being destroyed for supporting the government and court’s verdict. He has since been expelled from his own village and is now living in the Imphal area.

Landowners of Marangjing village in support of Railway work despite bandh by on the work by their own villagers.

The complainants before the Manipur Lokayukta accuse you of having 'siphoned off' funds, what is your position on it?

Armstrong Pame: The same complainants, having lost this case at the DC office before my arrival, opposed the survey report and filed various cases in both the Civil Judge Senior Division Tamenglong and the District Judge Imphal West. According to the Land Acquisition Act 2013, the District Judge is the final authority for reference in Land Acquisition Matters.

They have now taken up this matter with the Lokayukta.

I really don’t know how many more courts they intend to take up on this case. One thing to be observed about the petitioners is that they will end up criticising the institution where they themselves have taken the matter for justice. In one of the cases which they lost in the court of  Civil Judge (Senior Division) Tamenglong, they had even accused the Hon’ble Court of having working hand in glove [or colluding] with the office of Deputy Commissioner, [alleging] knowing the outcome of the judgement beforehand.

This is one of the complaints they had put forth in the Lokayukta against the officer. Why can’t the Maranging village be prosecuted for defaming the Hon’ble civil court? If they have no faith in the Hon’ble Court, why did they as a petitioner take up this case? All of these remain to be answered.

Further, in the court of the District Judge, Imphal West, they were the petitioners and lost the case again. They refused to accept the judgment as it went against their favour. In view of all these precedents, tomorrow if the Lokayukta happens to conclude the matter against their favour, I would not be surprised if they criticise the Hon’ble Lokayukta too.

I, as a local of the district, believe in the best coexistence between the two villages. I knew that going through legal processes in the court of laws, enmity between the two villages would only be enhanced, and the amount of money that they would have to spend in the entire legal process would be too much and that this would never bring a permanent solution.

I tried to reason with both the villages to settle the matters out of court. I had called [them] for a meeting in my office, discussed [the issue] with both the villages separately and also together on a common platform. However, I was unable to reach a settlement outside the court, and we had to continue with the legal battle.

This happened on June 14, 2017 in my Office Chamber. At the time of the meeting, both the sides of the village were very optimistic that one particular case (Civil Suit 8 of 2015) in the court of Civil Judge Senior Division Tamenglong would be issued in their respective favours. They had not mentioned any other case apart from this one.

In fact, this was the only related case where the court had barred the DC’s office from awarding the compensation.

Accordingly, with the consensus of all the parties involved, the award was modified to wait for the above stated order. The modified order was issued on June 15, 2017. On the June 16, we received information from the other party, i.e. Lovejoy of Pungmuon village and Thuankunlung, that the matter had been dismissed. I clearly had told them that without a hard copy, I would not take any decision.

Around some time in the evening, the court order was brought to my office and after verifying the same, the award was given in the favour of Thuankulung and Lovejoy, as per all available records in the office as reflected in the land survey records, among others.

It may be noted that these awards were given to villagers of Pungmuon village, through Lovejoy, and also to several farmers of Makhuam village who were cultivating the land belonging to Thuankulung of Marangjing village. Both of them had produced the concerned documents of the money being received by several farmers. You may like to verify this fact by going through all the APRs produced at the office.

You will be surprised that the same petitioners, who were leading several groups of youths and some women from the village, went on a rampage against the existing properties, and men of the various companies working day and night to complete the railway project. As this went uncontrollably,to bring peace and normalcy, we called a meeting on July 5, 2017, and agreed that the bank accounts of these two individuals would be frozen till the time whatever case they claimed were pending in the court.

In the meeting itself, they committed to give up all protests and other bans on the railway works. I assured them if in case they were proven right in the court, all the recovery would be done through my office. For the next eight Months till March 1, 2018, the accounts remained frozen. Does this mean I was scared of my own actions and trying to protect myself? Absolutely not. As someone who listens to their prayers, who believes in the law of the land, waits for the final judgment, I acted only after the final judgment was given.

The final judgment, paragraph 23 reads, “Situated thus, I come to the conclusion that the prayer of the respondent no. 4 to direct the collector, LA, Tamenglong to refer his claims to this authority cannot be entertained as there is no failure on the part of the Collector, LA, Tamenglong to refer his claim to the authority since respondent No.4 (Mr.Meithuaniung Gangmei, of Makhuam Village) did not file any application under section 64(1) of RFCTLARR Act, 2013 and that he has also failed to establish any prima facie right and title over the acquired lands mentioned in Sl.No. 2 and 3.”

Accordingly, the frozen accounts were opened again after receiving the court order. Imagine if I had not unfrozen the accounts, I would have faced another contempt of court from the other party. Now they are questioning my action of why I froze the bank account, despite them being present for the meeting and agreeing on this already.

What did you tell the Lokayukta?

Armstrong Pame: I exactly told the Lokayukta that no wrong has been committed on my part and that I had followed the laid down procedures. In fact, I had even gone beyond all the legal provisions available by trying to bring a mutual understanding among all the contesting parties.

My statement has been furnished to the Lokayukta – you may see it for yourself. The complainant party makes claims that several court cases are still pending. However, if none of them relates to the award matter, specifically forbidding the District Collector from paying the compensation, how can any work make any progress?

Just because someone filed a case today, and even without the court order, does it mean the DC has to stop working in anticipation of the unfavourable judgment? Absolutely not. Do you think any land acquisition would have happened if we had followed that route?

The petitioners should at least have the confidence in the system when they approach for justice, rather than ridiculing it when the judgment is against them.

You maintain that you acted as per court orders. Then why did the Lokayukta overlook your statement and rule in the preliminary inquiry as it did?

Armstrong Pame: Having furnished all my statements, and also all relevant annexures, I was hoping that the matter would be concluded here and then. However, this being only the preliminary report, I believe Hon’ble Lokayukta would be able to conclude the matter as per all existing documents in record. I also have been informed that Lokayukta have taken all files available in the office of DC office, I am sure they would understand the entire proceeding of the land acquisition process and the intricacies that follows and how much each of us as DC does to bring all land acquisition matter to close and bring forth development.

The Lokayukta is an oversight body, meant to look at corruption. It faults your actions on procedure. What do you propose to do next?

Armstrong Pame: While I would not like to question the jurisdictions and the methods adopted by Lokayukta to arrive at the preliminary report, it is true that the Lokayukta is to look into the allegation of corruption rather than the procedures of land acquisition and I am sure the Hon’ble Lokayukta would do the same.

While I am yet to receive any official intimation from the Hon’ble Lokayukta, so I can't comment much on this.

I am furnishing these facts based on some reports carried by The Wire on August 6, 2023. As stated in the above few court cases mentioned, all acts done by me in the official capacity as District Collector of Tamenglong have been justified by the competent court. While I still have faith in the Hon’ble Lokayukta that such malicious complaints would be outrightly rejected because if all such fictitious complaints are to be entertained, we would not see the progress of the railways as we have witnessed today.

No competent and honest officer would be willing to take up any decision in the future if such complaints are continued to be entertained.

In any legal battle, there can only be one party that emerges victorious. If the aggrieved party continues to endlessly fight in all available forums, they are simply wasting time, energy, resources, and most importantly, the zeal of the officer to serve the nation. In this matter, the people of Marangjing have taken up protests against me in all possible forums, carried out strikes, and even burnt my effigies. Having gone through all these, I would say my morale is definitely down but I would have to keep fighting as I believe my commitment towards the development of the nation is bigger than their hatred and jealousy against me. In all of these, I hope that all the people in the system, including my well-wishers and the media, will continue to stand for the truth and stand the test of time.

For me this was already a concluded matter. The Maringjing village took up this matter again only after almost a gap of four years, knowing fully well that I am no longer in Manipur, leaving me defenceless, without being physically present. Such a calculated move by the Maringjing village was never expected as I thought we parted ways on good terms. It looks like this village is now committed to destroying my career no matter what. I don’t know how many more cases they will put up. But as long as it is a legal battle, I am sure of winning them all, because I had done it in the best interest of the state and the nation.

Today the fruit of such hard work by all of us, including many officers [who worked] before and after me, is being seen in the form of the railways coming to Manipur especially, in this time of crisis where essential commodities are carried on trains in bulk.

The first goods train reached Khongshang Station on July 24, 2023.

I only wish that one day, the Marangjing villagers see the district's development as theirs and that along with that, they also see the career advancement of officers, including me, as their own success as we belong to the same community. My love and prayers will, however, be always with them.

All photos of the incidents mentioned above are provided by the interviewee, IAS officer Armstrong Pame.

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