Odisha claims Andhra Pradesh holding elections in 3 of its villages; moves Supreme Court

The Odisha government on Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking contempt action against Andhra Pradesh officials for notifying Panchayat polls in three villages controlled by it. The Naveen Patnaik government has said the notification amounts to invading Odisha's territory.

Odisha vs Andhra Pradesh in SC

Recently, Andhra Pradesh announced it would hold the panchayat elections in three villages -- Talaganjeipadar, Patusineri, and Phagunseneri which are part of disputed villages in Kotia Gram Panchayat of Koraput District. Kotia dispute is a long-pending border issue between Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, both the state claims over the area which consists of 21 small tribal hamlets along with the border. 

The Odisha government has sought contempt action against Andhra Pradesh's three senior officials -- Mude Hari Jawaharlal (contemnor-1), collector of Vizianagaram district; Adityanath Das, Chief Secretary of AP (contemnor-2), and N Ramesh Kumar, State Election Commissioner of Andhra Pradesh (contemnor-3).

A bench of Chief Justice Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian listed the matter for hearing on Friday after senior advocate Vikas Singh and advocate Sibu Sankar Mishra, appearing for the Odisha government, sought urgent listing of their contempt plea.

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The Odisha government sought notice to the contemnors as to why contempt proceedings not be initiated against them for wilfully violating orders dated December 2, 1968, and March 30, 2006, passed by the court in the original suit. It also sought punishment to them for having committed contempt of this court.

The dispute over territorial jurisdiction over the 21 villages, called as Kotia Group of villages first reached the top court in 1968 when Odisha on the basis of three notifications -- December 1, 1920, October 8, 1923, and October 15, 1927 -- claimed that Andhra Pradesh had trespassed its well-defined territory.  

During the pendency of suit filed by Odisha, the top court had on December 2, 1968, directed both the states to maintain status quo till the disposal of suit and said, there shall be no further ingress or egress on the territories in dispute, on the part of either party. The suit filed by Odisha under Article 131 of the Constitution was finally dismissed on the technical ground by the top court on March 30, 2006, and with the consent of both the states, it directed that status quo be maintained till the dispute is resolved.

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(With agency inputs)