SC asks petitioner to move Centre on border dispute

SHILLONG: The petitioner, THS Bonney has been asked by the Supreme Court to approach the Centre over his plea seeking a direction to the government for constituting a commission to solve the Assam-Meghalaya boundary dispute.
The lawyer dealing with the case, Fenella Lyngdoh Nonglait said Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, during the hearing, said the petitioner can send a representation to the new government regarding the matter and he is at the liberty to approach the Court again if he is not satisfied with the Centre’s order.
“Having heard the counsel for the petitioner and upon perusing the relevant material, we are not inclined to entertain the present petition. The writ petition is accordingly dismissed,” the court order said.
In the writ petition, the petitioner said the boundary dispute between Meghalaya and Assam is a long standing issue between the two Northeastern states and the four decade-long Meghalaya-Assam border dispute has resulted in bloodshed, dislocation of people, loss of employment and economic opportunities as Meghalaya was formally part of Assam.
The petitioner wanted direction from the Court to the Union Government to immediately constitute a Parliamentary Committee or a Ministerial Committee of Experts for resolving the boundary dispute between states of Meghalaya and Assam in a time bound manner.