MUMBAI/BELAGAVI: With the Karnataka government set to strengthen their case over the boundary dispute against Maharashtra in the Supreme Court, the Maharashtra government has decided to convene a meeting of its reconstituted 14-member high-powered committee on November 21 at Sahyadri Guest House in Mumbai in view of the apex court hearing on November 23.
The panel will be headed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, with Union Minister Narayan Rane, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, NCP president Sharad Pawar, former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, leaders of opposition Ajit Pawar and Ambadas Danve, and other cabinet ministers as members.
The Maharashtra government demands the merger of 865 villages on the border shared by both the states. Recently, a delegation of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) had appealed to Shinde to hold a meeting in connection with the dispute. The Maharashtra government has already rejected the recommendations made by the Mahajan Commission.
‘Karnataka unprepared’
With the Maharashtra government designing strategies to fight the case, the Karnataka government is yet to hold a meeting regarding the dispute in the recent months. “The Border Protection Commission of Karnataka is defunct after the demise of its chairperson Justice KL Manjunath, six month ago. The state neither has a minister for the boundary dispute nor a high-powered committee to look into the dispute,’’ says an expert. The state government claimed it had already instructed Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi to look into the case, sources said.
‘Don’t let SC admit case’
The Karnataka government plans to contend that the boundary dispute case does not come under the purview of the SC, by which the government should ensure that the Maharashtra’s petition is not “admitted in the Supreme Court’’, say sources.