The Supreme Court has turned down the Andhra Pradesh government’s request to dispose of the contempt of court proceedings against it for violation of status quo agreed upon by the two States more than 50 years ago.
The Andhra Pradesh government had requested for the dispose of the contempt of court proceedings against it, mentioning both the States are heading towards a political solution.
However, the Apex Court rejected the plea. “The Supreme Court said the contempt of court proceedings will remain pending. If no amicable solution is reached between both the states, it will proceed to see whether they (AP) committed the contempt or not,” informed Niranjan Sahoo, advocate for Odisha government.
The bench has fixed January first week for the next hearing on the case.
Earlier on Friday, both the Odisha and Andhra Pradesh governments placed their respective sides in the Supreme Court. While Odisha said a Chief Minister level discussion has already been held and to end the stalemate, a committee has meanwhile been formed and reports are being collected. Andhra Pradesh on the other hand, said both the States are trying to solve the problem at political levels.
Notably, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his AP counterpart YS Jagan Mohan had a meeting in Bhubaneswar on November 9. It was later both the governments had issued a joint statement over formation of a high level committee comprising the Chief Secretaries of both the States.
As per the decision, the Odisha government on November 24 formed an eight-member committee under the chairmanship of the State Chief Secretary to discuss with the officials nominated by Andhra Pradesh to find ways to end all outstanding border disputes, including the contentious Kotia villages.
Worth mentioning, the Odisha government had knocked the doors of the Supreme Court, seeking contempt of court proceedings against Andhra Pradesh government over Kotia border issue on February 10.