SC to Hear Plea on Assam-Meghalaya Border Pact in July

The Supreme Court of India stated that it would hear a plea of the Meghalaya government challenging the High Court's order which had put a stay on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Meghalaya and Assam to resolve the long-standing interstate boundary dispute in the month of July.

A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said the plea was wrongly listed today by the Registry and will take it up for hearing in July.

The Meghalaya High Court on December 8, 2022, had put an interim stay on the execution of the Assam-Meghalaya border pact, which was entered into between the two states subsequent to the signing of the MoU on March 29, 2022. The MoU was signed by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Chief Minister of Meghalaya Conrad Sangma to resolve the long-standing interstate boundary dispute, particularly in respect of six areas.

The Meghalaya government while approaching the top court against the High Court's order has said that the issues concerning the alteration of boundaries or exchange of areas between two states are a purely political question within the "sole domain" of the Executive.

The arrangement dictated Assam keeping 18.51 square kms of land, with Meghalaya keeping 18.28 square kms of land, for the 36.79 square kms of total land.

Meghalaya was carved out of Assam as a separate State in 1972, but the new State challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act, of 1971, leading to disputes in 12 border locations.

It may be mentioned that in March 2022, both states signed a historic agreement in Delhi to resolve their 50-year-old pending boundary dispute in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the office of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Also Read: Meghalaya to Begin Border Talks with Assam Soon: CM Sangma