SC judge recuses from hearing petitions on Belagavi border dispute

Supreme Court judge Justice B V Nagrathna on Wednesday, recused from hearing petitions regarding the Belagavi border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka.

New Delhi:Supreme Court judge Justice B V Nagrathna on Wednesday, recused from hearing the petitions regarding the Belagavi border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka. The bench comprised her and Justices KM Joseph, and Hrishikesh Roy. While no date of hearing has been given so far, the judge offered no reason for the recusal as well.

The border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka has remained unsolved for several years now. Both central as well as the governments of both states have been in talks to resolve the row. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, in November, chaired a meeting over the dispute in which he assigned two senior ministers to investigate legal coordination.

Maharashtra government claims parts of Karnataka's Belagavi district, among some of the other areas on linguistic grounds. On the other hand, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai claimed 40 villages from the Maharashtra region. CM Shinde had said that the freedom fighters in Karnataka's Belagavi and other Marathi-speaking areas, would be granted pensions under the Maharashtra government whereas Bommai also declared grants for the Kannada school in Maharashtra.

Earlier this month, veteran Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut urged Prime Minister to speak on the issue of the Karnataka-Maharashtra border issue during his visit to Maharashtra. Raut while speaking to the media before leaving to accompany Rahul Gandhi on the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir had said that the Prime Minister “must tell Maharashtra from a public forum that injustice should not be done to the Marathi speakers in Belgaum and they should take all precautions to ensure that they do not suffer."

"We all know the atrocities that took place, so the Prime Minister should instruct the Chief Minister of Karnataka that such injustice will not happen again,” Raut said. He was referring to the raging border issue between the two neighbouring states. Over the PM's visit to Maharashtra to inaugurate various projects. But among the projects he is going to inaugurate today, the major projects have been started by Shiv Sena in Mumbai Municipal Corporation. Everyone should note that”.