The Stalemate between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh

More on Stalemate between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh

• Both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have made their own interpretation of the provisions under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014.
• Arriving at a solution has failed, despite bilateral meetings between the two States as well as those convened by the Union Home Ministry.
• The Andhra Pradesh government has now approached the Supreme Court seeking “just, reasonable and equitable apportionment” of assets and liabilities.

Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014

• Commonly known as Telangana Act, the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014 bifurcated the state of Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and the residuary Andhra Pradesh state.
• The Act defined the boundaries of the two states, determined the division of assets and liabilities, and laid out the status of Hyderabad as the permanent capital of the new Telangana state and the temporary capital of the Andhra Pradesh state.

Creation of New States

• The Parliament of India has the sole power to create new states and union territories in India based on the procedure laid down in Article 3 of the Constitution.
• Parliament has powers to create new States in a number of ways, namely by (i) separating the territory from any State, (ii) uniting two or more States, (iii) uniting parts of States and (iv) uniting any territory to a part of any State.
• Procedure: The bill calling for the formation of new States can only be introduced in either House of Parliament based on the recommendation of the President.
• The President must refer such a bill to the concerned State Legislature for expressing its views. However, the Parliament will not be bound by the views of the state legislature.

The Expert Committee

• The committee headed by Sheela Bhide had made recommendations with respect to the division of 89 out of the 91 Schedule IX institutions.
• The committee’s recommendations on the division of assets that are not a part of the headquarters assets attracted criticism from the Telangana government.
  • The divisions of assets of RTC headquarters and the Deccan Infrastructure and Landholdings Limited (DIL) have become the key bone of contention between the two States.

Divisions of Assets under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014

• There are 91 institutions under Schedule IX and 142 institutions under Schedule X of the AP Reorganisation Act that have to be divided.
• There are 12 other institutions not mentioned in the Act, which have been a bone of contention.
• Value of assets: There are a total of 245 institutions with a total fixed asset value of Rs 1.42 lakh crore. Headquarters assets under Schedule IX institutions are valued at Rs 24,018.53 crore.
  • Institutions under Schedule X are valued at Rs 34,642.77 crore. The other 12 institutions make up the remaining 1,759 crores.

Stand of Stakeholders

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