Shillong: On Tuesday, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said that he will be meeting Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss on the consent given by the Coal ministry to exempt Meghalaya from the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 and Coal Mines Nationalization Act, 1973.
“The Home Ministry is the one that has to take this up, and I will be meeting the Home Minister when we visit Delhi for the citizenship bill, and talk about this”, said Sangma.
Though, the consent has been given by the Coal Ministry, the Chief Minister however, said that the constitutional power to exempt from it which is under para 12 (a) (b) of the Sixth Schedule, lies with the Home Ministry.
“It is not as simple as that. The Coal Ministry has given its consent, but then this consent requires the actual implementation or exemption to be done by the Home Ministry”, he said.
When asked whether his government was aware of the decision taken by the Coal Ministry to exempt Meghalaya from the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 and Coal Mines Nationalization Act, 1973, Sangma said, “It has been there since 2015, and sadly nothing has been happening from that time. It was something that nobody was made aware of, and it was only after we started digging out all the files and paper works, we come across with this. It is something that has come as a big boost”.
“We were hoping that the State Government should have moved from that time onwards, but it is quite strange that though from 2015 it came out, but no movement was made. Now that we find this last week, I am going to meet the Centre since this has just come to light”.