SC Agrees To Hear Plea of Assam And Meghalaya Govt. Against HC Order

GUWAHATI: On January 6, the Supreme Court (SC) decided to hear a petition from the governments of Assam and Meghalaya challenging a decision by the High Court to halt the implementation of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two states to resolve their boundary dispute.

The arguments of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the petition required an urgent hearing because the High Court halted the functioning of the inter-state deal that was inked earlier last year were noted by a bench made up of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justices P S Narasimha, and J B Pardiwala.

'We'll hear it,' Please submit the petition in three copies, the CJI said. It's important to note that 12 sections of the 884-km common border between Assam and Meghalaya have been the subject of a protracted dispute. In six out of twelve areas, the two states had agreed to a settlement agreement they had signed in March. In August, they decided to establish regional committees.

The boundary agreement between the two states was then temporarily halted by an order of the Meghalaya High Court on December 9. Following a hearing with four "traditional chiefs," Justice H S Thangkhiew issued an order for an interim stay until the next hearing date on February 6, 2023, which brought about the development.

Justice Thangkhiew stated, "During the interim time, no actual delineation or building of boundary markers on the ground, pursuant to the MoU dates 29/3/22 shall be carried out, until the following date."

The "traditional chiefs" said in their petition to the high court that the MoU between the two states was invalid because it breached the Constitution's Sixth Schedule, which contains unique rules for the governance of tribal territories.

The traditional chiefs claimed that the constitutionally recognised native chiefs and their durbars were not consulted before the MoU was signed. In addition, they stated that the agreement was "in principle opposed to the provision of Article 3 of the Constitution under which Parliament alone has the authority to alter the area or boundaries of existing states."

In the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the governments of Assam and Meghalaya inked the agreement on March 29 of this year.

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