SC questions Maharashtra for delaying 50 years to file border row
- The Supreme Court asked what was Maharashtra doing for 50 years regarding Belagavi border dispute
- Maharashtra moved court in 2004 demanding 865 villages in Belagavi to be included in Maharashtra
- Justice Deepak Mishra said the validity of the application has to be ascertained first
- Only the Parliament has the power to fix borders between states, not SC
Follow“The process of demarking borders was completed in 1956, while establishing linguistic states. You have filed an application in 2004, after 50 years. What were you doing all these years?” was how the Supreme Court rapped the Maharashtra government for raking up Belagavi border dispute, reports Kannada Prabha.
Maharashtra government had appealed to Supreme Court in 2004 that in 865 villages in the border area in Belgaum, Marathi speaking public were being harassed and appealed to bring those villages into Maharashtra border. Justice Deepak Mishra, Justice Bhanumathi and Justice Ashok Bhushan addressed the case with a sense of first determining the validity of the application. The hearing has been adjourned to August 10.
Earlier to this, justice Deepak Mishra said the validity of the application has to be ascertained first. The Supreme Court does not have the power to hear cases regarding border disputes. Only the Parliament has the power to fix borders between states. Senior advocate, counsel for State Sharath Javali and advocate general Madhusudan Naik also took serious objection to Maharashtra’s procedure. Senior advocate PP Rao who had to argue for the State was absent. Hence the hearing was adjourned.
