Kotia Row: Odisha Govt To File Fresh Suit Under Article 131

Bhubaneswar: After obtaining the opinion of former judge of Supreme Court Justice A K Patnaik, the Odisha government has decided to file a fresh suit in the top court under Article 131 of the Constitution on the border dispute with Andhra Pradesh.

In March, the government had sought legal opinion from the former Supreme Court Judge over the Kotia jurisdiction dispute.

WHAT DOES ARTICLE 131 STATE

Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Supreme Court shall, to the exclusion of any other court, have original jurisdiction in any dispute —

(a) between the Government of India and one or more States; or

(b) between the Government of India and any State or States on one side and one or more other States on the other; or

(c) between two or more States, if and in so far as the dispute involves any question (whether of law or fact) on which the existence or extent of a legal right depends:

Notably, Odisha on February 11 had moved the apex court seeking initiation of contempt of court proceedings against the neighbouring state for notifying Panchayat elections in three villages of Kotia cluster in Koraput district in violation of the status quo agreed upon by the two states more than 50 years ago.

The Odisha government had stated that the SC in 1968 had ordered maintenance of status quo in the disputed area and in 2006 the status quo was ordered on the undertaking given by both states while disposing of the suit.

The Andhra government, however, went ahead with the panchayat elections in the disputed areas on February 13.

In its affidavit, Andhra Pradesh later denied any breach of undertaking or its direction and said that it had not infringed upon the area of Odisha.

Later that month, the apex court had granted four weeks to Odisha to reply to the Andhra Pradesh government’s affidavit.