Supreme Court: Another Judge Rescued From Hearing Border Dispute Between Maharashtra and Karnataka

The Supreme Court in the case State of Maharashtra v. UoI Original Suit observed wherein the bench of Justice Aravind Kumar, who hails from Karnataka, recused from hearing the suit filed pertaining to the border dispute between the State of Maharashtra and the State of Karnataka.
The bench comprising of Justice SK Kaul, Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice Aravind Kumar was hearing the present plea. The present plea was moved by Senior Advocate, Mr. CS Vaidyanathan and the counsel appraised the bench that in past some of the judges from the State of Maharashtra and the State of Karnataka has refused themselves.
The bench in the case observed and has noted that which one of us J.Kumar is not being the member.
The suit has been filed by the State of Maharashtra in the year 2004 wherein challenging the State Reorganisation Act, 1956. Therefore, the said Act demarcates boundaries along linguistic lines. In the case the contentions raised by Maharashtra was that in several villages in the State of Karnataka there are Marathi-speaking population. It has also been claimed that the said areas include Belagavi, which should be the part of Maharashtra and not Karnataka and on the other hand, it has been argued by the counsel appearing for the State of Karnataka that as stated under Article 3 of the Constitution of India only the Parliament can decide on the State borders. Further, it has also been averred by the court that on the basis for the demarcation of boundaries was not only linguistic, but the court also took into consideration the financial, administrative and the economic aspects.