MC Explains | All you need to know about the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute

The decades-old Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute flared up again after the Karnataka CM indirectly laid a claim to some areas of Maharashtra. Tension escalated on December 6 when some buses from Kolhapur were stopped from plying into disputed border areas like Belagavi and Nipani. A look at why the two states fight and what the dispute is about. (Image: News18 Creative)

Tensions have flared up once again along the Karnataka-Maharashtra border over the long-standing dispute over the control of Belagavi, a border town in Karnataka.

Latest Developments

On December 9, Namma Karnataka Sene, a pro-Kannada organisation staged a protest outside Maharashtra Bank, at Gandhinagar in Bengaluru, against Maharastra. Later, police detained the protestors.

On December 8, this border row led to a heated debate in Parliament with several MPs from both states raising the issue.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar said the central government cannot remain a mute spectator. If power is misused to destroy the idea of a language medium and movement, there is bound to be a reaction. But, the Centre has turned a blind eye to it, Pawar said addressing a meeting of the NCP.

Also Read | Amit Shah to meet CMs of Maharashtra, Karnataka on December 14

On December 7, activists of the Swarajya Sanghatana on Wednesday smeared black paint on the signboard of Karnataka Bank at its branch in Nashik city of Maharashtra amid a simmering border dispute between the two states. They wrote 'Jai Maharashtra' on the shutter of the bank and shouted slogans against the Karnataka government.

Tension escalated on December 6 when some buses from Kolhapur were stopped from plying into disputed border areas like Belagavi and Nipani.

Also Read | Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute: Activists of Swarajya Sanghatana deface signboard of bank

When did the dispute begin?

The Maharashtra and Karnataka boundary dispute has its origins in the reorganisation of states along linguistic lines via the State Reorganisation Act, 1956. The basis of the dispute is Belgavi's inclusion in Karnataka.

Maharashtra claims Belgavi along with other Karnataka districts like Vijaypura, and Dharwad was originally part of the Bombay presidency. But, after the implementation of the State Reorganisation Act of 1956, the Belgavi district became part of Karnataka.

The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 reformed the boundaries of Indian states and territories, systematizing them on a language base.

After this, Maharashtra objected to 865 villages, including Belagavi, in Karnataka. Since then, Maharashtra and Karnataka have argued over the inclusion of several towns and villages along the state border.

The Mahajan Commission

In October 1966, the Union Government set up a commission under retired Supreme Court judge Meharchand Mahajan.

In August 1967, the Mahajan commission submitted its report. It recommended merging 264 towns and villages of Karnataka with Maharashtra and 247 villages of Maharashtra with Karnataka.

Although, in 1970, the report was tabled in the parliament but was not taken up for discussion.

Politics around the dispute

Since the 1957 Karnataka Assembly Elections, candidates who had the support of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi (MES), kept winning seats until the 2018 Assembly elections.

Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi is a linguistic socio-political committee based out of Belagavi, Karnataka. It acts as a party demanding the merger of Belagavi district in Karnataka with Maharashtra and for the rights of the Marathi people and the Maratha community in Karnataka.

Legality around the dispute

In 2004, Maharashtra approached Supreme Court to challenge the State Reorganisation Act of 1956.

Karnataka asserted that according to Article 3 of the Indian Constitution, only parliament can decide the borders of the state and not the Supreme Court.

Maharashtra replied to this by saying Article 131 of the Indian Constitution says the SC has jurisdiction in cases related to disputes between the Union Government and states.

The Maharashtra-Karnataka border row is still pending in the Supreme Court after 18 years.