In pursuance of the statutory mandate of North Eastern Council (NEC) to function as a Regional Planning Body for the North Eastern Region after the 2002 amendment of the NEC Act, 1971 a comprehensive guideline on procedural and policy matters named “NEC General Guidelines” was prepared and placed in the 58th Plenary of the NEC held in 2010. Appended along with the NEC General Guidelines were also Sectoral Guidelines which contained broad regional issues and thrust areas in line with the recommendations in the NER Vision-2020 document. The NEC General Guidelines was considered and approved by the 58th Plenary and the NEC Secretariat has been functioning in accordance with these guidelines.
With the passage of time, it became necessary to further modify the NEC General Guidelines for better clarity on various areas specially in respect of matters relating to regional planning and strategies so that the resources of NEC converges with the resources of the Central Ministries, State Government and the private sector for investment in the projects included in the regional plans and also for introducing some innovative approaches and schemes for the overall development of the region. Accordingly, the “Revised NEC General guidelines” including “Revised Sectoral Schemes and Guidelines” were approved in the 64th Plenary of the NEC in 2015.