Article 371-A of the Constitution of India which gives the State of Nagaland an exceptional status, has long
been a subject of political debates and has also been the cause of much ire within the legal intellectual community in India. The principle objective of this paper is to demonstrate that despite the special provision, Article 371- A(1)(a) does not confer legislative power to the State of Nagaland for regulation and development of mineral oil and that the power to make a law in that subject rests with the Parliament alone. As such, the Nagaland Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulations, 2012 as notified by the Government of Nagaland, lacks constitutional validity. This paper closely examines the constitutional legality and validity of the Resolution passed by the Nagaland Legislative Assembly in 2010 under the garb of Article 371-A which rendered laws made by the Parliament on petroleum and natural gas inapplicable in Nagaland with retrospective effect. Article 371-A(1)(a) is interpreted by using settled rules of construction and judicial precedents contending that there was a misuse of the special provision enshrined in the Constitution while passing the Resolution in 2010.