Shillong. Jan 6: A CJI Chandrachud led bench of the Supreme Court today stayed the Meghalaya High Court order staying the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) entered into by the Chief Ministers of Meghalaya & Assam for settling their boundary dispute between the states.
SG Tushar Mehta had mentioned the matter before the bench also comprising Justices Pardiwala and Narasimha which had agreed to take up the same at 2PM.
Notably, the governments of Assam and Meghalaya in March last year had signed a MoU resolving their border dispute in six out of the twelve areas of difference.
Advocate Pragyan Pradip Sharma, appearing for the original writ petitioner before the High Court, told the CJI led bench today that the MoU did not have Parliamentary sanction.
On the other hand, the Advocate appearing for the State of Assam informed the Court that only boundaries were being demarcated for the betterment of villages which were not receiving development benefits as they belonged neither to Assam nor Meghalaya.
Thus, after hearing the parties, Court ordered,
“Prima facie single judge has not furnished any reason for the interim order and whether the MoUs will require parliamentary approval is a distinct issue. But interim order staying MoU was not warranted. Thus, the interim order of the single judge is hereby stayed. Issue notice to the respondents. Liberty to serve the central agency.”
Matter will now be taken up after two weeks.
Courtesy: Law Beat