At a time when the State government makes repeated declarations that it will protect the State’s interests, particularly with respect to its border, S. Rajendra Babu, Karnataka Border Protection Commission (KBPC) Chairman and former Chief Justice of India, has given in his resignation. This has left the government red-faced as he has reportedly cited lack of facilities to discharge his duties effectively.
According to highly placed sources in the government, Mr. Babu sent his resignation letter to Chief Minister recently, however, the government has not accepted it yet, sources said.
Mr. Babu was a regular visitor to the commission’s office located in the MS Building. He had also held discussions with the Law Secretary on Thursday on the border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka that was scheduled to come up before the Supreme Court on Friday, sources said.
While no details related to the reasons for the former CJI’s move to quit the commission are available, sources said lack of certain facilities was a major grouse.
A pro-Kannada leader from Belagavi, who attended a recent meeting convened by Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H.K. Patil, who is also the Nodal Minister for the commission, said the Minister had been informed about the poor infrastructure for the commission to work effectively.
Case adjourned
Meanwhile, the boundary dispute case in which the Centre has been made the first respondent, came up for hearing before the three-member bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Jagadish Singh Khehar, Justice Madan Lokur and Justice C. Nagappan on Friday, and the matter was adjourned. The bench has decided to take up the matter after the summer vacation in July. The matter was adjourned with Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar pleading to the court that there was no hurry to hear the matter and it could be heard at a later stage. Senior advocate and expert on the Constitution, P.P. Rao, Karnataka’s Advocate-General Madhusudan Naik, senior advocates Sharad Javali and Uday Holla appeared for Karnataka.
It may be recalled that the Maharashtra government filed a suit in the Supreme Court (Original Suit No.4/ 2004) on March 29, 2004, staking a claim on Bidar, Nipani, Belagavi, Khanapur, and Karwar among the 864 towns and villages along the Karnataka-Maharashtra boundary.
