Guwahati: The Supreme Court will hear a plea on the MoU signed between Meghalaya and Assam to resolve the border dispute between the two states.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala on Monday posted the matter for hearing in July.
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The Meghalaya government filed a petition at the top court challenging the High Court’s order which had put a stay on the pact signed between Meghalaya and Assam.
The bench said the plea was wrongly listed on Monday by the Registry and will take it up for hearing in July.
“We will keep this in July,” the bench said.
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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 his Meghalaya counterpart 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.
It stated, “The MoU signed by the two states is a sovereign act between the states to demarcate the boundaries in a fair and transparent manner which cannot be interfered with by way of a writ petition and much less by passing an interim order.”
The arrangement dictated Assam keeping 18.51 square kilometres of land, with Meghalaya keeping 18.28 square kilometres of land, for the 36.79 square kilometres of total land.
The interim order was passed by the High Court on a plea moved by some residents claiming that the MoU violates provisions of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution which relates to the ‘Administration of Tribal Areas’ in the Northeast states.