Parties advised to settle dispute independently

THE Supreme Court on Tuesday advised the parties involved to try to settle their dispute independently.

- SUCHITRA K MOHANTY

THE Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Centre to inform it on the next hearing date why the long-pending delimitation exercises in the states of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur have yet to be conducted.

A dissatisfied bench of two top court judges, led by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar, made it clear that there is a statutory mandate for the exercise.

During the hearing, the apex court recorded that in February 2020, then President Ram Nath Kovind had rescinded an earlier order to defer the delimitation exercise in Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Assam. "But what you (Centre) were doing so far? What have you been doing for four years? What have you done to set the ball rolling?" the court asked Additional Solicitor General of India (ASG) KM Nataraj, seeking its status.