BANGALORE: The Government has issued notice to the Belgaum Taluk Panchayat seeking explanation for its February 27 resolution on Belgaum's merger with Maharashtra, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy told the Legislative Council on Wednesday.

The Government, which recently superseded the Belgaum Municipal Corporation for passing a similar resolution, could invoke the provisions of the Panchayat Raj Act, 1993 and dissolve the taluk panchayat for its action, the Chief Minister said.

Replying to a discussion on the issue that rocked the House on Tuesday, Mr. Kumaraswamy said the taluk panchayat's resolution on the Belgaum dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra is not on record, as the members belonging the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti had sought to move the resolution even though it was not part of the agenda.

"In fact, the executive officer and other officers had told the samiti, which has 21 members in the 40-member panchayat, that such a resolution would be illegal and unconstitutional. Since the border issue is pending before the Supreme Court, the matter is sub judice and the panchayat has no locus standi to discuss it," he said.

Mr. Kumaraswamy said as the samiti members insisted on moving the resolution, the officials boycotted the meeting, taking away the attendance register and the record of proceedings. This means that the meeting of the panchayat did not take up the issue nor was a resolution issue sought to be moved.

The Chief Minister said even the samiti's Uchagaon MLA, who allegedly encouraged the panchayat members to pass the resolution, would be asked to given an explanation.

The matter was raised on Tuesday by Leader of the Opposition H.K. Patil, Salim Ahmed, Veeranna Mattigatti, Mallajamma, Umashree, Chandrashekar Kambar, Prabhakar Kore, `Mukhyamantri' Chandru, and B.K. Chandrashekar.

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