Border row: SC notice to Maharashtra on Karnataka plea

The Supreme Court issued notice to the Maharashtra government on a plea of Karnataka seeking to restrain its neighbouring state from setting up Marathi-speaking school in the disputed border area on Friday.

A bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha also expressed concern over the Karnataka police allegedly beating Marathi-speaking population after some snaps of the incidents were placed before it.

"If the state act in such a manner then nothing can be more serious," the bench said. The Maharashtra governemnt was granted six weeks time to respond to the notice. The bench also raised questions on the way in which the states are fighting legal battle.

"States are adopting tactics which are generally adopted by private litigants. State should set an example on how litigants should behave," it said. The Maharashtra cabinet had on July 30 adopted a resolution condemning the police action against Marathi-speaking population in Yellur village in Karnataka.

Tension prevailed in the border town of Belgaum in Karnataka after a board put up by some villagers revived a decades-old dispute with neighbouring Maharashtra.