The Supreme Court has put the ball in the court of Union government on implementing the report of the Surveyor General of India over demarcating the Inter-State Boundary (ISB) between Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh passing through the Ballari Reserve Forest.
This order was pronounced by a two-judge bench comprising Justice Madan Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta, while hearing a Special Leave Petition 7366-7367/2010 of Government of Andhra Pradesh and others versus Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) on Monday.
The court order said that Surveyor General of India filed a final report pursuant to the directions given by the court and the demarcation of the boundary between Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka has been exhaustively dealt with, adding that counsel for Karnataka accepted the report in full. Counsel for Andhra Pradesh had some reservations.
“It is now entirely up to the Union of India to implement the report of the Surveyor General of India and demarcate the boundary between the States of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Post the matter after six months”, the order stated.
It may be mentioned here that pursuant of the apex court order, the Survey of India (SoI) led by Surveyor General of India, along with a team of officials of both Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, conducted a field survey, and submitted the final report to the Supreme Court recently on the demarcation of an inter-State boundary passing through the Ballari Reserve Forest between Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, using a forest map that dates back to 1896.
The issue had been pending since 2010 and the Supreme Court directed SoI to submit the report by August 31.
Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC), owned by G. Janardhan Reddy, having a mining lease in Andhra Pradesh, had been accused of encroaching on forest area on the Karnataka side of the border, erasing the boundary markings.
Before taking up the joint field survey, SoI held consultations and deliberations and analysed all the submissions, records, observations and inputs provided by both the State governments, and held several rounds of meetings, since January, 2018, before coming out with a map showing new border alignment. It also decided not to consider the Traverse Map of 1887 given by Andhra Pradesh for determining the border.
Mine owner reaches out to Yeddyurappa
Tapal Ganesh, the mine owner who fought against alleged illegal mining activities of Obulapuram Mining Company, has urged B.S. Yeddyurappa, State BJP president, to prevail upon the Union government to implement the Survey of India report expeditiously.
