Khasi states body slams Centre over coal rules

SHILLONG: The Federation of Khasi States has criticised the Centre’s decision to not exempt Meghalaya from the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the federation said the status report submitted to the Supreme Court reveals the difficulty of the successive state governments and the Centre in resolving the issue or recognising the ownership over the minerals due to constitutional anomaly.
Elaborating on this, the federation said the existing anomaly is vis-à-vis the non-fulfilment of a conditional Instrument of Accession and Annexed Agreement of August 17, 1948, between the Federation of Khasi States and the Government of India.