NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to file its response on a plea seeking direction for proper implementation of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act that had led to the bifurcation of the state.
A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan asked the Central government what it had done in four years since the bifurcation.“Nearly four years have passed and nothing happened. File your response,” the court said and asked Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Maninder Singh to file a reply in four weeks.
The plea was filed by Congress member and MLC Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy. He alleged that several provisions of the Act including the set up of a separate High Court for Telangana was not yet implemented.Legislators from Andhra Pradesh have held up proceedings in Parliament for weeks now, demanding special status for the state. They maintain that the bifurcation of the state affected the state’s financial position.
The party had quit the BJP led National Democratic Alliance in protest against the Centre’s reluctance to grant the state the special status. “A number of provisions in the Act are not being implemented by the Union of India and various departments/ministries. This has resulted in hardship to lakhs of people in both states and the non-implementation of provisions/assurances made in the Act will reduce the confidence in Parliament among the people,” the petition stated.
“The major provisions which are not/partially implemented are Tenth Schedule - Continuance of Facilities in 107 State Institutions, River Management under Eleventh Schedule, Allotment of Special economic measures and use of infrastructure under the Twelfth Schedule, Establishment of Steel Plants in Khammam and Kadapa districts, 4,000 MW Power facility in Telangana, the Railway coach factory, Tribal University in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Horticulture University in Telangana and the IIT, NIT, IIM, IISER, Central University, Agriculture University, AIIMS etc,” the petition said.
It was also argued that the non-implementation would erode people’s confidence in Parliament. The Act came into force on June 2, 2014.