NEW DELHI, Sept 13 � The end to the contentious border dispute between Assam and Nagaland pending resolution for the last two decades may become a reality with the Supreme Court appointed co-mediators on Tuesday submitting their findings to the apex court.
The co-mediators on Assam-Nagaland border, senior advocates of Madras High Court and Gujarat High Courts Sriram Panchu and Niranjan Bhatt respectively, considered two of the country�s foremost experts in mediation, submitted their report to the Court of Chief Justice of India, Justice S H Kapadia in a sealed cover.
The apex court is now likely to take a call on resolution of the vexed border dispute between the two neighbouring states. In their report, the mediators were expected to make recommendations on the mode of resolution of the problem
Sources said the report may be sent to the states concerned for their response.
The Supreme Court had in August, 2010 appointed the two mediators to find ways to resolve the boundary dispute.
While appointing the two mediators, the Supreme Court had observed that border disputes between States must be resolved through mediation.
The apex court while appointing the two mediators had left it on the two co-mediators to decide to the experts needed for mediation, and a representative of the Union Home Ministry. The Chief Secretaries of the two States were also to be associated with the process of mediation.The Bench had asked the co-mediators to submit a preliminary report after three sittings, on the progress of the process and whether it would be possible to resolve the dispute through mediation.
The dispute was over the boundary between Assam and Nagaland, which was carved out of Assam through a 1962 Act of Parliament. The original suit was filed by Government of Assam in 1988 seeking the apex court�s direction in identifying its border with Nagaland.
The Supreme Court had in 2006, appointed Justice (retd) SN Variava to identify the boundaries between Nagaland, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh�.
However, Justice Variava later opted out as the Commissioner and he was replaced by Justice (retd) Tarun Chatterjee on January 20, 2010. However, at that time, the Supreme Court made it clear that it was not a boundary commission as postulated in the Constitution but only a local commission.
