Andhra Pradesh Govt Approaches Supreme Court Seeking Division Of Assets & Liabilities With Telangana

The State of Andhra Pradesh has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking a "fair, equitable and expeditious" division of assets and liabilities between the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana including the Institutions/Corporations specified in Schedules IX and X of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014.

The petition pointed out that not a single institution specified in Schedule IX (91 institutions), Schedule X (142 institutions) and Institutions not mentioned in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014 (12 institutions) have been apportioned between the States following their reorginazation in 2014. The petition specified that the total amount of fixed asset which was to be divided of the institution is about Rs. 1,42,601 crores. The petition also stated that Telangana would be the state that would be benefitted by the non-division of assets as 91% of these assets are in Hyderabad which has become the Capital City of Telangana.

The institutions being referred to in the petition perform various essential and basic functions such as, agriculture, dairy development, education, medical services, minority and backward class development, industrial development, infrastructure development, social security etc.

The petition drawn and filed by Advocate Mahfooz A. Nazki expressed that the non-apportionment has led to many issues which have affected and violated the fundamental and other constitutional rights of the people of the State of Andhra Pradesh including the employees of the Institutions and due to the lack of funds the functioning of the institutions in the State of Andhra Pradesh has been severely stunted.

The petition went on to elaborate on the situation of the people working in the institutions.

"The employees working in these institutions [approximately 1,59,096] have been in a limbo since 2014 solely because there has been no proper division. The position of pensionable employees who have retired post bifurcation is pitiable and many of them have not received terminal benefits. It is therefore imperative that all these Assets be divided at the earliest and a quietus be put to the issue."

The petition also pointed out that there had been a detailed meeting between the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the Central Government on the issue of division of assets however, there had been no positive development on the issue. It further stated that the Union Government had held 28 review meetings with the Governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana but not even a single issue was resolved and Government of India has made its stand clear that these issues can be resolved only with the cooperation of the State Governments with the Central Government acting as a facilitator.

Thus, the State of Andhra Pradesh has approached the Supreme Court seeking to declare the inaction of the State of Telangana in dividing the assets and liabilities as arbitrary and violative of the Fundamental Rights of the people of Andhra Pradesh. It was further sought to direct the State of Telangana to furnish the details of all the properties of the erstwhile State of Andhra Pradesh and to carry out all measures that are required to physically hand over to the State of Andhra Pradesh/the Corporations their respective Assets and Liabilities including the Assets and Liabilities of the Institutions specified in Schedule – IX and Schedule – X of the Act as also other Institutions.

It was further prayed from the court to direct the State of Telangana to pay a compensation in the form of interest @ 15% per annum on the value of Andhra Pradesh's share of the apportioned assets from the date 2nd June 2016. The petition also prayed for the appointment of an impartial, neutral and independent Arbitrator/Retd. Judge of the Supreme Court to supervise and monitor the actual division of the Assets and Liabilities.

Case Title : The State of Andhra Pradesh rep. by its Chief Secretary vs. Union of India and Anr.