BHUBANESWAR: After filing a contempt petition in the Supreme Court against Andhra Pradesh government for notifying polls in the Kotia gram panchayat, the Odisha government is set to convene a meeting of its 16-member Kotia committee on Tuesday to review the developments in the region and decide its future course of action.
The meeting to be presided over by Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari will also discuss the progress of development works and what new initiatives can be introduced for the people of Kotia gram panchayat.
Speaking to mediapersons on Monday, Pujari said the state government has filed a contempt petition against the Andhra Pradesh government. “Holding panchayat election is a violation of the status quo order of the Supreme Court in a case filed by the Odisha government in 1968,” he said.
The minister said the Odisha government has also raised a constitutional matter in its petition.
The petition has questioned whether one gram panchayat can have two sarpanchs and panchayat samiti members each, he said. Pujari said the Kotia GP has a sarpanch and a panchayat samiti member who were elected in the 2022 panchayat election of Odisha.
“Now if Andhra Pradesh government holds panchayat election, the same gram panchayat will have another sarpanch and panchayat samiti member,” he pointed out.
Advocate general Pitambar Acharya told this paper that the Andhra Pradesh government had conducted panchayat election in Kotia in 2020-21 following which the then Odisha government had also filed a contempt petition against it.
“We have done the same thing by filing another contempt petition against the Andhra Pradesh government,” he said.
The committee was formed by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi in May 2025 to plan special development initiatives for 18 villages of Kotia gram panchayat.
Meanwhile, leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) and Pottangi MLA Ramachandra Kadam has demanded that the state government initiate immediate discussion with the Andhra Pradesh government to address the issue.
In separate letters to Governor Braj Mohan Ram and Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Kadam said the Odisha government should strengthen its presence in the region to ensure uninterrupted delivery of essential public services.