Withdraw cases to settle issues, Telangana tells Andhra Pradesh
Hyderabad: Telangana on Wednesday demanded that Andhra Pradesh must withdraw all its court cases to resolve the pending issues pertaining to Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act amicably through bilateral discussions. It made it clear that they cannot make further progress in resolving the issues, with cases filed by Andhra Pradesh pending in the courts.
However, Andhra Pradesh which has been pressing for resolving pending issues, did not give any commitment in this regard.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Wednesday chaired the meeting between top officials led by respective Chief Secretaries of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh through video conference on Wednesday. Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Special Chief Secretaries K Ramakrishna Rao (Finance) and Sunil Sharma (Energy), Principal Secretary to Chief Minister S Narsing Rao and other senior officials attended the meeting on behalf of Telangana. Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma and other officials also attended the meeting remotely.
Presenting its case, Telangana strongly argued for payment of the power dues amounting to Rs 12,111 crore from Andhra Pradesh to Telangana power utilities, following which Andhra Pradesh stated that dues amounting to Rs 3,442 crore were pending to them from TS Genco. Though the Central government appointed the Neeraja Mathur committee in 2014 to resolve the issues arising out of AP Reorganisation Act, the State officials pointed out that no report was submitted even after seven-and-a-half years. Further, they pointed out that AP power utilities filed a case in the High Court.
With regard to disputes regarding Schedule IX Institutions in the Act, the Telangana government took a stand that unless the Andhra Pradesh government withdraws the court cases, there cannot be further progress. Around 5,000 acres of land which was allotted to the Deccan Infrastructure Land Holdings Limited (DILL) was resumed by the Telangana government in 2015 as the conditions of allotment were violated. But the AP government filed a writ petition against the said orders and obtained a stay order. Similarly, the AP government went to court and obtained stay orders against resumption of 250 acres allotted to AP State Finance Corporation.
Further, Telangana authorities made it clear that as per AP Reorganisation Act of 2014, the Telangana government and the union government own a share of 51 per cent and 49 per cent respectively in the total equity of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL). As there is a specific provision in the very Act itself, the Centre should not have entertained any request raised by AP regarding the same. union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla concurred with the view of Telangana. Further, the issue regarding ownership of APHMEL (AP Heavy Machinery Engineering Limited) was strongly contested by Telangana government as it is a subsidiary of SCCL and it should continue to remain in the future as well.
On division of Schedule X institutions, Telangana stated that as per directions of the Supreme Court, the Central government issued an order in 2017 with regard to division of AP State Council for Higher Education and the same principle, should be made applicable for the remaining Schedule X institutions. The AP government filed a writ petition in the High Court against these orders.
To take up allocation of Andhra Bhavan in New Delhi, it has been decided to appoint a committee consisting of Special Chief Secretary for Finance K Ramakrishna Rao, along with the Engineer-in-Chief of Roads and Buildings department and also the Resident Commissioner of Telangana in Delhi with their counter parts of Andhra Pradesh to submit a report giving various options for the division of Andhra Bhavan. union Home Secretary concurred with the same and asked the Committee to give its report in a time-bound manner.
The Telangana government opposed amendments to the AP Reorganisation Act 2014 after seven and half years as was being suggested by the AP authorities for apportionment of tax arrears and refund. It felt that such a move would open endless litigations and complicate the matters further. In case an amendment was not feasible, the AP government sought the Centre to compensate the amount.
Upon suggestions from the union Home Secretary, both the States have appointed Special Chief Secretary for Finance K Ramakrishna Rao on behalf of Telangana and Special Chief Secretary for Finance SS Rawat on behalf of Andhra Pradesh, as nodal officers to look into division of cash balances between both the States.
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