Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday chaired a high-powered committee meeting on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute and discussed various legal issues. The CM said a senior advocate will be appointed to represent the state in the Supreme Court in the Maharashtra-Karnataka boundary dispute. The CM said an additional legal hand will be necessary to assist senior lawyer Harish Salve representing Maharashtra in SC in the case.
After the new lawyer is appointed, a meeting would be held in Delhi to chalk out future legal strategy, he said. It has been decided in the meeting to provide the state’s Maratha quota in education and jobs to the youth living in the 865 villages, the CM said. A statement from the chief minister’s office said state Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil, Industries Minister Subhash Desai and Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde attended the meeting.
Speaking to reporters later, Munde said the meeting was held for the first time in two years after the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti and he followed up on it. “Positive discussion was held on many issues. The ekikaran samiti representatives and I demanded that Maratha youth residing in the 865 villages situated in Karnataka along the Maharashtra border, (claimed by the latter) be included in the 16 per cent Maratha quota for jobs and education,” Munde said.
Munde said there was also a demanded to provide benefits of schemes of the state’s Annabhau Sathe Financial Development Corporation to these youth. Maharashtra claims 865 Marathi-speaking villages in Karnataka, including Belgaum, Karwar and Nippani, and wants these areas to be ceded to it.
