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RW. 1 A.S. Khongphai is the petitioner. He is by occupation an Advocate. He asserts that one whose mother is not a Khasi cannot be a Khasi. A Khasi must have a "Jaid". He says that he could not but take the "Jaid" of his mother. He, however, admits that one Khongman, an Advocate, is a Khasi. He Knows that Khongman's wife is a non-Khasi. But when questioned about their children, he says that he does not know if they are Khasis. He also admits that these children are regarded as Khasi.

P.W. 2 Mowoon Lyngdoh is Lyngdoh of Sohiong. He deposes that according to Khasi custom the issue of a non-Khasi woman by a Khasi husband cannot be a Khasi. He admits that many Khasis have married non-Khasi women but says that their descendants are always treated as non-Khasi s even if they live in the Khasi Hills for generations. But P.W. 7 Hadwickton Nongsteng, on the other hand, says that it takes 4 or 5 generations for the descendants of a non-Khasi woman to have a "Jaid". P.W. 8 Keni Nongbsap, deposes; that the descendant of a non-Khasi can never become Khasi at any time. P.W. 9 says that he knows Respondent No. 1 very well and adds--"We take him as a Khasi".

P.W. 5 says that the children and descendants of a non-Khasi woman cannot be Khasis. He adds that he had not read about this in any book nor has he been told so by anybody. He says "I know it myself. P.W. 10 Norman Singh Syiem cannot say if the ancestress of a "Jaid Dkhar" was a "Dkhar" i.e., a non-Khasi from the plains.

6. I may next refer to the evidence of witnesses produced by Respondent No. 1 R.W. 1 is the respondent No. 1 himself. He practically knows nothing about Khasi customs. R.W. 2 Prof. R.S. Lyngdoh is the Head of the Department of Khasi Language and Culture at the St. Anthony's College. He says that there are people of the War locality who are Khasis, but who have no "Jaids". R.W. 3 Dr. S.R. Laloo also says that the War people have no "Jaid". R.W. 4 Phritson Kharkongor says that his clan is "Jaid Dkhar" and that their ancestress was a non-Khasi women by the name of Mohkhynhong. R.W. 6 Jebuni says that he was a Wahadadar for 27 years and that he knows Respondent No. 1. He also says that Respondent No. 1 is a Khasi of War Sheila and that the Khasis of War Sheila have No. "Jaid". R.W. 8 Hamlet Bareh is a Professor of History at the St. Edmund's College. He was awarded the D. Phill degree by the Gauhati University on his thesis the origin and History of the Khasi People. He says that there cannot be a Khasi without a "Jaid" but adds that now-a-days the matter of taking a "Jaid" has become a matter of choice, i.e., one can have the "Jaid" of the father or of the mother or he may not take any "Jaid" at all.

13. It appears, therefore, that although it may be true that so far as the original Khasis are concerned, every Khasi must have a Jaid and he or she can take only the Jaid of his or her mother, this does not appear to be so in the case of some other tribes like the Wars, Lynngams or Bhois. When the witnesses depose about the Khasi custom of having a jaid and taking of a jaid from the mother only, it is not clear whether they mean the Khasis only or also the other tribes like Wars, Bhois, Lynngams and Syntengs who are reckoned as Khasis but are different from them. In the result therefore the contention that every Khasi must take the Jaid of his or her mother only is not proved and cannot be accepted.

20. Thus for determining the question whether a person belongs to the Khasi community or not for the purposes of special representation, it is not only the purity ofblood which will be the criterion but all the surrounding circumstances will have to be looked into. The argument of the appellant was that according to the Khasi custom no person other than the one born of a Khasi female can be ever regarded as a member of that tribe and further that no individual can be a Khasi unless he has a 'Jaid' (clan). According to the appellant a Khasi takes the 'Jaid of his mother. The father has no independent 'Jaid'. Thus unless a person's mother is Khasi, he can never be regarded as a member of the Khasi tribe. The evidence in the case has already been dealt with by my brother in details and I do not find anything in the evidence to show that the membership of the Khasi tribe is still confined to the descendents of the original Khasis, that is to say, the Khasi community from a Khasi women. The contention is that sometimes the Khasis brought non-Khasi women from the plains and those women were assimilated among the Khasi community and their descendents were recognized as Khasis. But it is urged that any one born of a non-Khasi woman cannot be a member of the community, although after some time if he himself marries a Khasi woman, his children may become Khasis. Admittedly in the present case the father of the respondent was a Khasi. There has been evidence produced on his behalf to the effect that he has been recognized by the community as a Khasi.