Kannada organisations have opposed the State government’s reported plans to enlarge the responsibilities of the border protection commission and allow it to provide legal counsel on the State’s water sharing dispute.
“This will jeopardise both the efforts - fighting the border dispute and the water disputes in the Supreme Court,’’ says Ashok Chandaragi, president of the action committee of Kannada organisations.
The two issues are completely different and officials handling the two issues need different sets of professional skills. One agency will not be able to do that. Secondly, there are qualified legal teams for all the three major disputes - Cauvery, Krishna and Mahadayi. They have been studying the issue and arguing in various courts and tribunals for decades. Creating another agency will lead to bureaucratic delays.
Thirdly, the Supreme Court will not accept any advice sought from individuals or agencies other than government advocates and their associates.
Fourthly, clubbing the issues will highlight river water sharing issues and push down the border issue that is important to places such as Belagavi, Kasargod and Adoni, Mr. Chandaragi said.
In a letter to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, the committee has urged the government to drop the proposal. It can be recalled that the legal advice committee headed by H.B. Datar was reconstituted as the border protection commission under Justice V.S. Malimath. This is a standing commission that considers all issues related to the State’s borders and not just the case with Maharashtra, the letter said.
Committee working president Shivappa Sharmant, vice-president M.G. Makandar, secretary Sagar Borgal and others have urged the government to appoint a Minister for border affairs and to set up the commission’s branch office in Belagavi.