Meghalaya HC Passes Interim Stay Order On Assam- Meghalaya Border Demarcation

SHILLONG : The Meghalaya High Court has put an interim stay on the border pact by Assam and Meghalaya to resolve border disputes of the 12 controversial locations. The HC proposed an order which stated that, the prohibition will last till the next date of hearing on 23rd of February, 2023. 

The stay order came to be passed after a petition was filed by four chiefs of Syiemship and Sirdarship. They argued that, the agreement was signed between the two states without their consent. They claimed that the memorandum of understanding has gone against the provisions of the Sixth Schedule. 

The schedule deals with special provisions for the management of the tribal areas.

Advocate P Sharma on behalf of the petitioners, stated that if the demarcation takes place on the basis of the signed agreement, the request to stop the activity will go in vain. On the other hand, Advocate general A Kumar, appealed before the HC to not stop the exercise and argued that the task will not harm the petitioners by any means. 

An agreement was signed between Assam's chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sharma and Conrad K Sangma, the chief minister of Meghalaya on 29th of March. The step was taken by both the states to resolve the never ending border dispute. Amit Shah described this process as 'historic'. The issue of border dispute started when Meghalaya was separated from Assam on 21st of January, 1972. Meghalaya questioned the authority giving rise to disputes in 12 regions. 

In the agreement, it was decided that, of 36.79 square kilometres of land, 18.51 square kilometre of land will be under the control of Assam and the rest 18.28 square kilometres will be handled by Meghalaya. 

The chief minister of Meghalaya, Conrad K Sangma stated that a proper survey will be conducted before the demarcation in collaboration with the Survey of India.

 Also Read : The Assam-Meghalaya border disquiet

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