Maharashtra & Karnataka Face to Face: SC to hear Belgavi border Dispute on November 30

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear a long-standing border dispute (Belgavi border dispute) between Maharashtra and Karnataka. BJP is in power in both Maharashtra and Karnataka but now the states have come face to face. The reason is the border dispute between the two states that has been going on for five decades.

The border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka is so deep that when Uddhav Thackeray was the Chief Minister, he had said that until this issue is resolved by the Supreme Court, the disputed areas should be declared as Union Territories. Not only this, in January 2021, Thackeray even called the disputed areas as ‘Karnataka occupied Maharashtra’.

Recently Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis had said, ‘No village of Maharashtra will go to Karnataka. Our government will fight vigorously in the Supreme Court to get Marathi speaking villages like Belgaum, Nippani and Karawar in Karnataka. Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai called it a provocative statement and said, ‘His (Fadnavis) dream will never be fulfilled. Our government is committed to protect the land, water and borders of the state.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday said the state government is fully prepared for a legal battle in the Supreme Court against Maharashtra in regard to the border dispute between the two states.

He added that the petition filed by the state of Maharashtra in regard to the border issue did not have any legal provision since it was filed on the basis of the State Reorganisation Act and Article 3 (formation of new states and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing states) of the Constitution.

18 years ago in 2004, the Maharashtra government had taken this border dispute to the Supreme Court. Maharashtra government had demanded to hand over 814 villages to it. In 2006, the Supreme Court suggested that this issue should be resolved through dialogue. Along with this, it was also suggested that emphasis should not be given on linguistic basis, because it can increase the problem further.

The border dispute dates back to the 1960s after the reorganisation of states on linguistic lines. The case is now before the Supreme Court.

The case of Belgavi border dispute – suit filed by Maharashtra against the state reorganization act has been pending since 2004.