The Frontier Nagaland Territorial Authority (FNTA) Bill, 2026 was deferred in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly following sustained concerns over the conferment of legislative powers to the proposed authority and pending clarification from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Chief Minister Dr. Neiphiu Rio, in his statement in the House, outlined a series of developments including a State Cabinet meeting held on February 26, 2026, where the draft FNTA Bill, prepared by the Law and Justice Department, was deliberated upon.
The Cabinet noted that provisions of the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed on February 5, 2026 between the Government of India, the Government of Nagaland, and the Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organisation envisaged granting legislative powers to FNTA.
However, the Learned Advocate General, who was present in the meeting, opined that under the constitutional scheme, such powers cannot be conferred through a State legislation.
Following further deliberations, the Cabinet observed that the State Government does not possess the constitutional competence to delegate or transfer its legislative authority to another body. The matter was subsequently taken up with the MHA on March 6, 2026, with a copy also shared with ENPO.
On March 10, 2026, the MHA responded requesting the State Government to proceed with constitution of FNTA under Clause 3.3 of the MoA through a State legislation in consultation with the Ministry, and to submit the draft proposal.
Further discussions were held between the Chief Minister and the Union Home Secretary on March 16, 2026, during which the need for early constitution of FNTA was emphasized.
Subsequently, the draft Bill was vetted by the Advocate General and sent to the MHA on March 17, 2026. Meanwhile, representatives of ENPO met the Chief Minister on March 24, submitting a representation urging that the FNTA Bill be passed ahead of their Central Executive Council meeting scheduled for March 30.
In view of these developments, the Cabinet meeting held on March 25, 2026 approved the draft Bill with modifications and decided to table it in the ongoing Assembly session, which was accordingly done on March 26.
However, later that evening, the MHA informed the State Government that the issue of conferring legislative powers to FNTA is still under examination and that the opinion of the Solicitor General of India is being sought. The Ministry requested the State to await further clarification before proceeding.
Adding to the developments, ENPO submitted an appeal urging that the provisions of the MoA be upheld while passing the Bill, while ENLU also wrote to the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs requesting deferral of the Bill until clarity is obtained.
Taking into account the request of the Government of India as a signatory to the MoA, as well as the representations from ENPO and ENLU, the Chief Minister stated that the Bill should be deferred and referred back to the Government for further examination to ensure that it is both legally sound and constitutionally tenable.