The First Schedule of the Constitution of India, in entry No. 16 with reference to the State of Nagaland, refers to “The territories specified in Sub-Section (1) of Section 3 of the State of Nagaland Act, 1962.”
The above mentioned Sub-Section (1) of Section 3 with reference to the formation of the State of Nagaland provides that: “As from the appointed day, there shall be formed a new State to be known as the State of Nagaland comprising the territories which immediately before that day were comprised in the Naga Hills–Tuensang Area and thereupon the said territories shall cease to form part of the State of Assam.”
Section 2(e) of the State of Nagaland Act, 1962 Act provides that: “Naga Hills–Tuensang Area” means the Naga Hills–Tuensang Area specified in Part B of the Table appended to paragraph 20 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution, comprising the areas which at the commencement of the Constitution were known as the Naga Hills District and the Naga Tribal Area.
Points No. 1, 12 and 13 of the 16 Points Agreement of July 1960, between the Naga Peoples Convention and the Government of India for the establishment of a separate Naga State provides that:
“The Name: The territories that were hitherto known as the Naga Hills–Tuensang Area under the Naga Hills–Tuensang Area Act, 1957, and any other Naga areas, which may hereafter come under it shall form a State within the Indian Union and be hereafter known as the Nagaland.”;
“Re-transfer of Reserve Forests: All the Reserved Forests and other Naga areas that were transferred out of Naga area will be returned to Nagaland with a clearly defined boundary under the present settlement.”;
“Consolidation of Contiguous Naga Areas: The other Naga tribes inhabiting the areas contiguous to the present Nagaland be allowed to join Nagaland if they so desire.”
The State of Nagaland was created of the territories under the NHTA Act without the inclusion of any other Naga areas as claimed in Point No. 1.
With reference to Points No. 12 and 13, during the deliberation on the 16 Points Agreement, as the Central Government expressed its inability to decide nor accept them at that moment, on the insistence and wishes of the Naga delegates, it was placed on record representing as follows:
No. 12: “The Naga delegation discussed the question of inclusion of Reserve Forests and of contiguous areas inhabited by the Nagas. They were referred to the provisions in Articles 3 and 4 of the Constitution, prescribing the procedure for the transfer of areas from one State to another.”
No. 13: “The Naga leaders expressed the view that other Nagas inhabiting contiguous areas should be enable to join the new State. It was pointed out to them on behalf of the Government of India that Articles 3 and 4 of the Constitution provided for increasing the area of any State, but that it was not possible for the Government of India to make any commitment in this regard at this stage.”
The facts that the Naga delegates were referred to Articles 3 and 4 of the Constitution of India for transfer of areas from one State to another, namely the Reserved Forests and the contiguous areas inhabited by the Nagas, and that it was not possible for the Government of India to make any commitment in this regard at that stage immediately prior to the formation of the State of Nagaland, the Government of India remains obligated to the wishes of the Naga people to give effect to the relevant Points No. 1, 12 and 13 of the 16 Points Agreement.
In the light of the above facts, the Government of India may be requested to act as per its own commitment and enact necessary amendment in Section 3 and 4 of the State of Nagaland Act, 1962 by invoking the Constitutional provisions of Article 3 and 4 of the Constitution of India to effect re-transfer of Reserve Forests and amalgamate all the Naga territories back to the State of Nagaland and fulfill the above mentioned clauses of Agreements in letter and spirit.
