The Telangana government has taken a serious note of the court cases filed by Andhra Pradesh government seeking resolution of pending bilateral issues between the two States and asserted that further progress could not be made as the cases were not withdrawn.
Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, who participated in a virtual meeting convened by Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Wednesday, recalled how the Andhra Pradesh government took to legal recourse on the disputes pertaining to division of Schedule IX and X institutions between the two States. These included resumption of 5,000 acre land allotted to Deccan Infrastructure Land Holdings Limited by Telangana government in 2015 as conditions of allotment were violated as was the case with 250 acre land allotted to the erstwhile AP State Finance Corporation.Recalling that the Centre had issued orders related to AP State Council of Higher Education on the directions of the Supreme Court, he said that the same was applicable to all the Schedule X institutions. However, the AP government had questioned the very order issued by the Centre and filed a writ petition in the High Court. “The whole issue of bifurcation of Schedule IX and Schedule X institutions is pending because of these court cases filed by the AP government.
The government of Telangana has taken a stand that unless court cases are withdrawn, further progress on the bifurcation of Schedule IX and Schedule X institutions cannot be made,” Mr. Kumar said.
With respect to apportionment of tax arrears and refund under Sections 50, 51 and 56 of the Reorganisation Act and apportionment of institutions not listed anywhere in the Act, the State said it was firm that there was no need for taking up amendment of AP Reorganisation Act after seven and a half years.
“This would open endless litigations and further complicate the settled matters,” Mr. Kumar said, adding that the AP government had said in the meeting that in case an amendment was not feasible, the Centre could compensate the loss.The Telangana government had made a strong demand that dues from Andhra Pradesh and the Centre should be settled immediately and payment be made when the issue of division of cash balance and bank deposits came up during the discussion.
The State asserted that ₹495 crore pertaining to Central schemes was due to Telangana for more than seven years. Similarly, dues to the tune of ₹315 crore by AP government towards the amount spent on common institutions like High Court, and Raj Bhavan, were not released yet.“Even the monies that are accepted such as the share of buildings under constructions, welfare fund of ₹456 crore and resumption of net credit forward of ₹208 crore is also not paid,” the Chief Secretary said.
Responding to the request, the Union Home Secretary suggested that two nodal officers be appointed to look into division of cash balances. Telangana had accordingly nominated Finance department special chief secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao and his AP counterpart Rawat was nominated by the neighbouring State government for single point contact in this direction.
