Andhra Pradesh recently held panchayat elections in three villages in the Kotia cluster, which is at the centre of a dispute between Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

Do you know?

Sukma district of Chhattisgarh borders with Odisha (Malkangiri district), Telangana (Bhadradri Kothagudem district) and Andhra Pradesh (East Godavari district).

You got it right. Thers’ a junction. AP and Telangana , both borders with Chhattisgarh.

Andhra-Odisha Boundary Dispute

• Prior to April 1, 1936, villages under Kotia panchayat were part of Jeypore Estate.
• In the Constitution of Orrisa Order, 1936, published in the Gazette of India on March 19 that year, the GoI demarcated Odisha from the erstwhile Madras Presidency.
• In 1942, the Madras government contested the boundary and ordered re-demarcation of the two states.
• When the state of Andhra Pradesh was created in 1955, the villages were not surveyed by the state government either.

Details of the villages

• These villages, with a population of nearly 5,000, are located on a remote hilltop on the inter-state border and are inhabited by Kondh tribals.
• The region, once a Maoist hotbed which still reports sporadic incidents of violence, is also rich in mineral resources like gold, platinum, manganese, bauxite, graphite and limestone.

What is the judicial reaction?

• In the early 1980s, Odisha filed a case in the Supreme Court demanding right and possession of jurisdiction over the 21 villages.
• In 2006 the court ruled that disputes belonging to the state boundaries are not within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
• The matter can only be resolved by Parliament and passed a permanent injunction on the disputed area.

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