The Union Home Ministry, racing against time to introduce the T-Bill in the winter session of Parliament beginning December 5, is understood to have finalised the bill and referred it to the Union Law Ministry for ‘final vetting’ before it could be placed before the Union Cabinet.
According to sources, officials of both the Union Home Ministry and Law department are burning midnight oil to give final touches to the bill. Though indications suggest the bill might come up before the Union Cabinet on November 28, sources are not ruling out the possibility of placing the bill before the Cabinet on Monday itself if the Law Ministry completes “legal scrutiny” by Sunday night.
Having almost finalised every issue pertaining to State division, the Centre is said to have sought the opinion of the Law Ministry to address the issue of status of Hyderabad for the 10-year period during which the city will be common capital of both the proposed states.
Two options are reportedly under consideration to address this issue amicably. One is to set up a security board comprising Chief Ministers of both the States along with the Governor to oversee law and order in the common capital.
Second is to invoke Article 371(H) under which the Governor will supervise law and order in Hyderabad though he would be acting on the advice of the Council of Ministers, as is being done in the case of Arunachal Pradesh. This provision gives scope for the Governor to overrule the advice of the Council of Ministers. However, as and when the Governor feels it is no longer required to invoke Article 371(H), he can make such a case before the President for its removal.
Meanwhile, the BJP Central leadership is understood to have asked its Telangana leaders not to make too much noise on the concessions given to Seemandhra post-bifurcation as the primary demand of granting statehood to Telangana is being met.
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