The Jaintia Hills in the eastern part of the state have rich deposits of coal. The National Green Tribunal banned rat-hole mining of coal in the state in 2014. Tribal groups across Meghalaya maintain that according to the sixth schedule of the Indian Constitution, they alone have the right to the coal under the hills. But the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973, which vests ownership and control of the mineral with the Indian state, expressly lists Meghalaya’s coal mines as being under its purview. Besides, the Sixth Schedule also confers the right over underground minerals to the Indian state. It explicitly mentions the need for "licences or leases for the purpose of prospecting for, or extraction of, minerals". According to the Constitution, there is only one way a Sixth Schedule state can be exempted from the coal nationalisation law – by a presidential notification to that effect. Official records suggest that while the state government did express apprehension in the wake of the nationalisation of coal, it never applied for an exemption.
