SHILLONG: The issue related to the delay in the allotment of medical seats to 10 Meghalaya students has turned murkier with the revelation that the North Eastern Council (NEC) has nothing to do with the matter.
An official source said on Friday that the Assam government wrongly addressed the matter to NEC and instead the letter should have been sent to the State Government.
The seats were allotted as per the Northeastern Area Re-organisation Act, 1971, and the agreement was between Meghalaya and Assam governments regarding allotment of medical seats.
A state government official said Assam had mistaken Northeastern Area Re-organisation Act for NEC and hence the letter was sent to NEC headquarters in city.
Sudden change
Another mystery is that as per the letter on August 29 forwarded by NEC to the state government as received from Assam, 10 seats were allotted to the students from Meghalaya.
However, when the students went to the colleges at the end of August, they were told that there were no seats for them. Moreover, Assam did not inform the Meghalaya government about the development.
The Assam government in the letter addressed to NEC on August 29 had mentioned about the admissions allotted to the students and the Meghalaya government was asked to submit the list of students before August 31. The same day, NEC had passed on the information to the Meghalaya government.
Nagaland keen to file petition
There were altogether 13 seats allotted to three northeastern states which were stopped by Assam. The break-up is 10 seats to Meghalaya and one each to Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.
Sources said Nagaland had contacted Meghalaya health officials expressing the desire to be one of the parties to the case.
The matter will come up for hearing on Monday in the Supreme Court.
