The State of Mizoram was established in 1986 when the memorandum of settlement was concluded between the Indian Government and the Mizo National Front. On August 14, 1986 the Central Government enacted The Constitution (Fifty Third) Amendment Act, 1986 which inserted Article 371 G to the Constitution which provides special provision to the State of Mizoram. The Amendment Act specifically states that the laws made by the Parliament shall be extended to the State of Mizoram only if the Legislative Assembly of the State passes a resolution to that effect. As a result of the Constitutional Amendment the Central Government formulated The State of Mizoram Act, 1986 enacted on August 14, 1986 which came into effect on February 20, 1987.
The Act provides for the establishment of State of Mizoram in the place of the Union Territory of Mizoram. The Act amended the Schedule I of the Constitution which inserted entry 23 to add Mizoram under the heading ‘The States’. The Act further made changes to Schedule IV of the Constitution which renumbered the entries in the list. The sitting member of the Rajya Sabha on behalf of the Union Territory of Mizoram shall be considered as duly elected according to the provisions of Article 80(4) to fill the seat allocated to the State of Mizoram. The seats allotted to the State of Mizoram in the Lok Sabha and the seats to be reserved for Scheduled Tribes shall be one. On the commencement of the enactment, the parliamentary constituency of the Union Territory of Mizoram shall be transformed to the State of Mizoram. For this purpose Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order, 1976, shall be interpreted accordingly. The legislative Assembly of the State of Mizoram shall be filled with forty members who are chosen by direct election.
The seats allotted to the Legislative Assembly of the State of Mizoram shall be distributed by the Election Commission to single member territorial constituencies and delimit according to the provisions of the Constitution. The constituencies shall be delimited considering the geographically compact location, physical characters, boundaries of the administrative wing, facilities for correspondence and convenience of the public etc. The seats allotted to the Scheduled Tribes shall be fixed in the areas proportionally where the population is largest compared to the total population. Besides, the Act amended the following orders:
- Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950
- Constitution (Scheduled Castes) (Union Territories) Order, 1951
- Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950
- Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) (Union Territories) Order, 1951
The Act provides for the establishment of a Common High Court for the States of Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura and Mizoram to be known as the Gauhati High Court. The expenditure incurred for the payments and salaries of the Judges of the High Court shall be shared between the States of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura and the Union in the ratio determined by the President. The payments and benefits granted to the Governor as determined by the President until a provision is framed by the Parliament through legislation as per Article 158(3) of the Constitution. The grants-in-aid of the revenues of the State of Mizoram and the contribution of the State in the excise duty, estate duty and income tax shall be determined by the President by order. The Central Government is authorized to appoint Advisory Committee to aid the Government to fulfill the responsibilities and guarantee reasonable and impartial management of all persons coming under the purview of the enactment.
The State of Mizoram Act, 1986 amended Article 210, Article 239 A, Article 240, and Article 244 of the Constitution. It also amended Schedule V and Schedule VI of the Constitution as well. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, Government of Union Territories Act, 1963 and the North-Eastern Council Act, 1971 was also affected by changes in tune with the provisions of the 1986 Act.