Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has filed a counter affidavit in the Supreme Court with relevant documents to justify Kotia panchayat as an integral part of the state.
The 500-page affidavit submitted by Koraput collector Abdaal M Akhtar states that the Andhra Pradesh government is deliberately violating the order of the apex court to maintain the status quo on Kotia issue.
Rejecting the claim of the neighbouring state in its earlier affidavit filed in the apex court, the counter affidavit filed by Odisha government has said the panchayat elections illegally conducted by the Andhra Pradesh government in Kotia Panchayat in the recent past have been stopped with the intervention of higher officials.
To justify its contention, the affidavit has attached a letter written by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Odisha to his Andhra counterpart on October 14, 1966 and a letter by the former Odisha Chief Minister Biju Patnaik to the then Prime Minister Chandrasekhar requesting him to direct the neighbouring state to refrain from taking up developmental activities in Kotia panchayat.
Maintaining that the Odisha government has administrative control over Kotia panchayat, the affidavit said that state Home Department has set up a police station there since February 28, 2009.
Apart from this, the other documents submitted along with the affidavit are the land documents of the border villages registered in the office of the sub-registrar under the jurisdiction of the Koraput collector and the 2011 Census report of the villages under Pottandi Taluk.
The affidavit also mentioned the developmental projects to the tune of Rs 150 crore taken up by the state government in the Kotia panchayat.
Also Read: Kotia Row: Odisha Govt Takes Legal Help From Former SC Justice
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