Meghalaya Assembly passes resolution against uranium mining, processing
The Meghalaya Legislative Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution opposing exploration, mining and processing of uranium in the state, with support from members across party lines
The resolution urges the Union government, the Department of Atomic Energy and the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) not to permit, pursue or undertake any uranium mining operation in Meghalaya
The known uranium deposits at Domiasiat, Wahkyn and Lostoin in West Khasi Hills lie in a high-rainfall, landslide-prone catchment that feeds drinking water sources, farmland and fisheries
Local communities and civil society groups have opposed the project for decades over health and environmental concerns
The state government will formally communicate the resolution to the Centre; land and mineral resources in the area fall within the framework of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution
The Sixth Schedule (Articles 244(2) and 275(1))
The Sixth Schedule provides special administrative arrangements for tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram through elected Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) and Regional Councils, rather than through the ordinary Panchayati Raj structure used elsewhere. It is invoked under Article 244(2) (application to these four states) and Article 275(1) (special Union grants-in-aid to Sixth Schedule areas).
Key Details
- Each Autonomous District Council can have up to 30 members: not more than 4 nominated by the Governor, the rest elected by adult franchise
- ADCs have legislative, executive, judicial and financial powers over land, forests, customary law, inheritance and, importantly, the power to grant licences/leases for mineral extraction within their jurisdiction, with a share of royalties
- Unlike the Fifth Schedule (applicable to tribal areas in other states, with Tribes Advisory Councils and Governor's overriding powers), the Sixth Schedule areas have their own quasi-legislatures
- Meghalaya, being almost entirely under Sixth Schedule administration, has historically resisted Union land acquisition and central mineral operations on the ground of protecting community/clan land ownership
Because most of Meghalaya's land, including the uranium-bearing tracts, is community or clan-owned under Sixth Schedule protections rather than state/Union-owned, the Assembly's resolution reinforces that any central mining project needs the political and social consent of these autonomous institutions and local communities, not just central clearance.
Constitutional Distribution of Mineral Rights — Union vs State List
Ordinarily, "regulation of mines and mineral development" falls under Entry 23 of the State List (List II), but this is expressly made "subject to the provisions of List I" — specifically Entry 54 of the Union List, under which Parliament can occupy the field "to the extent... declared by Parliament by law to be expedient in the public interest." The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 was enacted under Entry 54 to establish central control over major minerals, including uranium.
Key Details
- Entry 6 of the Union List separately reserves "atomic energy and mineral resources necessary for its production" exclusively to the Union — this is the specific head under which uranium/thorium mining is governed, distinct from the general MMDR framework for other minerals
- The Atomic Energy Act, 1962 (enacted under Entry 6) gives the Central Government a statutory monopoly over "prescribed substances," which include uranium, thorium, beryllium, plutonium, deuterium and their compounds/ores
- Section 4 of the Act requires anyone who discovers uranium or thorium deposits to notify the Central Government; disposal of uranium-bearing minerals above a prescribed threshold requires prior written Central Government permission
- Mining, possession or processing of these prescribed substances is possible only under a Central Government licence — no state or ADC can independently authorise uranium mining
Even though the Assembly's resolution has strong moral and political weight, uranium is constitutionally an exclusive Union subject under Entry 6 of the Union List — meaning the resolution is a request/pressure tactic on the Centre, not a legally binding prohibition, illustrating a live federalism tension between Sixth Schedule land/tribal rights and Union control over atomic minerals.
Supreme Court on Tribal Mineral Ownership — State of Meghalaya v. All Dimasa Students Union (2019)
In its judgment of 3 July 2019, the Supreme Court examined mineral rights in Meghalaya's Sixth Schedule areas in the context of coal mining, holding that in Meghalaya's tribal/community-owned land, rights over both surface and sub-soil resources — including minerals — generally vest with the tribal landowners/community, not the state, distinguishing Meghalaya's land tenure from most other states where sub-soil mineral rights vest in the state.
Key Details
- The same proceedings addressed the state's liability to deposit funds towards environmental remediation (Meghalaya Environment Protection and Restoration Fund) for illegal coal mining, directing part of it to the Central Pollution Control Board
- The ruling underscores those Sixth Schedule land tenure systems can override the general common-law/statutory presumption (applicable elsewhere in India) that sub-soil mineral rights vest in the state
- Comparable ruling on general mineral ownership: Association of Natural Gas v. Union of India affirms that outside such special tribal tenure systems, minerals vest in the state under Indian mining law
This precedent strengthens the legal and political basis for Meghalaya's communities and Assembly to resist externally-imposed uranium mining, since ownership of the sub-soil uranium deposits itself is contested between community landowners and the Union's Entry 6 authority.
- Resolution passed unanimously by the 60-member Meghalaya Legislative Assembly
- Known uranium deposits: Domiasiat, Wahkyn and Lostoin (West Khasi Hills district)
- Sixth Schedule applies to: Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram (Articles 244(2), 275(1))
- Atomic Energy Act, 1962 enacted under Entry 6, Union List (List I), Seventh Schedule
- MMDR Act, 1957 enacted under Entry 54, Union List; general mineral regulation otherwise sits under Entry 23, State List
- State of Meghalaya v. All Dimasa Students Union judgment: 3 July 2019