HYDERABAD: The Telangana government has objected to allotment of Vijayawada-based Andhra Pradesh Heavy Machinery and Engineering Limited (APHMEL) to Andhra Pradesh by the Sheela Bhide-headed expert committee.
Chief secretary SK Joshi wrote a letter to Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba on Monday requesting the central government to set aside the panel's recommendations and issue directions under Section 71(a) of AP Reorganisation Act on the division of interests in the shares of APHMEL and protect the interests of Telangana and central governments.
Joshi wanted the Centre to act at the earliest as it apprehended that AP may unilaterally take over the valuable assets of APHMEL located near Vijayawada. APHMEL was listed in the IX Schedule of AP Reorganisation Act.
When APHMEL was in losses, the undivided AP government wanted Singareni Collieries Company Limited to acquire 81.54 pc equity in APHMEL in 1998-99. Thus it became a subsidiary of SCCL. APHMEL's other shareholders are AP Industrial Development Corporation (5.79 pc), erstwhile AP government (0.86 pc) and public (11.81 pc).
As per the de-merger plans submitted in April 2017 by the APHMEL managing director, it was decided to allocate 86,903 equity shares to AP and 62,107 shares to TS. "However, to the utter surprise and disregard of the provisions of APRA, the expert committee recommended that APHMEL shall pass on to the residuary state of AP in its entirety," Joshi said.
Telangana contends that TS got 51 pc and Centre 49 pc in SCCL. APHMEL is a subsidiary of SCCL. Thus, the entire equity of 81.45 per cent of APHMEL is with SCCL and the same has to be apportioned between Telangana and Centre in 51:49 ratio. The only issue is about 0.86% of shares owned by the undivided AP government. "The expert committee's recommendations, if acted upon, would not only cause irreparable loss to TS but also to the central government as SCCL is a joint company of Telangana and the Centre," he said.
Valuable Assets
APHMEL is located at Kondapalli, near Vijayawada, in an area of 206 acres worth Rs 2,060 crore. It also has Rs 150 crore worth of 5-acre land near Benz Circle in Vijayawada.