Shillong, Oct. 26: The Centre has asked the Meghalaya government to look into the issue relating to the Instrument of Accession and Annexed Agreement raised by the Grand Council of Chiefs of Meghalaya and the Federation of Khasi States.

In a recent letter addressed to John F. Kharshiing, who is the chairman of the Grand Council of Chiefs of Meghalaya and the spokesperson for the Federation of Khasi States, a Union home ministry official intimated that the state government was asked by the ministry to look into the issue raised by the two bodies.

In 2012, Union home affairs joint secretary (Northeast) Shambhu Singh had sent a similar request to the Meghalaya government.

On August 17, 1948, the conditional treaty, Instrument of Accession and Annexed Agreement, which was entered into with the Khasi states, was accepted and signed by C. Rajagopalachari, the last Governor-General of India. But the commitment of incorporating the agreement in the Constitution is yet to see the light of day.

The Federation of Khasi States calls the failure to incorporate the agreement a “constitutional anomaly” and for over two decades now, they have been demanding that the Centre rights the wrong.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the first deputy Prime Minister of India, had visited Shillong on January 1, 1948, to discuss the agreement, which Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had wanted to be tailored in a manner that would suit the indigenous people of the Khasi states.

However, the Federation of Khasi States has been arguing that while on the one hand, the Instrument of Accession and Annexed Agreement had expressed the commitment of the Centre towards constitution of the Khasi states assembly or council of the chiefs, on the other, the non-fulfilment of such commitment has resulted in the contradiction of laws, acts, and rules vis-à-vis the customary laws of the tribes of Meghalaya.

Earlier this year, Kharshiing had written to Union minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju and Union home secretary Anil Goswami on the issue.

Following the receipt of the letter from the ministry, Kharshiing said, “We will be meeting the state government to discuss the necessary constitutional amendments required to address the constitutional anomaly, which has been pending for the last six decades. The Grand Council of Chiefs of Meghalaya and the Federation of Khasi States reiterate that according to the treaty rights, the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo chiefs and their administrative institutions of self-government must find constitutional space.”

The provision for constitutional space, Kharshiing said, should be through a separate “party less” legislative body meant specifically for the traditional tribal village level, provincial level and state level to ensure that their customary and social rights over legislative, executive and judicial authority were protected and defined in the Constitution under a special article.