Assam, Meghalaya move SC against HC order staying their inter-state border pact

Assam and Meghalaya governments on Friday moved the Supreme Court challenging the orders of the Meghalaya High Court staying the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by chief ministers of the two states for settling their boundary dispute.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala took note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the matter needed an urgent hearing as the single and division bench of the high court have stayed the operation of the inter-state border pact which was signed earlier last year.

“We will hear it. Please provide three copies of the petition,” the CJI said.

A single judge bench of the Meghalaya High Court on December 9 had ordered an interim stay on physical demarcation or erection of boundary posts on the ground in connection with the inter-state border pact.

Later a division bench of the high court refused to interfere with the order of the single judge bench leading to filing of an appeal in the top court.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma had in March signed an MoU, demarcating the border in at least six of the 12 contested locations that often raised tensions between the two states.

On March 29 last year, the agreement was signed in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah by the chief ministers of Assam and Meghalaya.

The pact sought to resolve the protracted dispute in six of the 12 places along the 884.9-km border between the two states.

The boundary dispute between Assam and Meghalaya has lingered for 50 years. However, efforts to resolve it have gained pace in recent times.

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