NEW DELHI, April 10: The Supreme Court on Monday deferred hearing on the Meghalaya government’s petition, challenging the stay of the border MoU by the High Court of Meghalaya, till July on technical grounds.
The MoU was signed by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in March last year in New Delhi towards resolving border disputes in the first six of the 12 areas of differences.
A bench, comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala, said the Meghalaya government’s petition was wrongly listed on a Monday by the apex court’s registry when it should have been listed on a non-miscellaneous day.
“We will keep this in July,” the bench said.
Earlier, the Meghalaya government had argued that issues concerning the alteration of boundaries or exchange of areas between the two states are purely a political question within the “sole domain” of the Executive.
In its plea, the Meghalaya government said the High Court had failed to appreciate that an interim order cannot be passed merely by asking the petitioner when the matter pertains to exercise of sovereign functions like demarcation of boundary between the states.
It maintained that any interference or the staying of the MoU amounts to complete breach of separation of powers as enshrined under the Constitution of India.
The Meghalaya government had submitted that the interim order, passed by a single judge bench, resulted in stalling the said process of demarcation of the boundary and derailing the resolution of a long-pending boundary dispute.
It said the High Court ought to have interfered with the interim order as it was passed in a mechanical manner without adherence to the judicially-determined principles for the grant of interim relief.
