HYDERABAD: The tussle between the sibling States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over the assets of Vijaya Dairy in Hyderabad is nearing adjudication. A division bench of the Telangana High Court on Monday reserved its order in the petition filed by the AP Dairy Development Cooperative Federation Limited (APDDCF) challenging the decision of the Telangana government in allegedly taking over the properties of its headquarters at Lalaguda in Secunderabad. The APDDCF contended that it had rights over the subject headquarters (Vijaya Bhavan) in Telangana.
The bench, comprising Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice T Vinod Kumar, dealt with the petition filed by APDDCF 2016 challenging the GO 8 issued by Telangana government on May 6 that year, on the grounds that it violated the AP Act, 2014. AP State Advocate General S Sriram, appearing for APDDCF through video conference, submitted that the subject federation falls under Schedule 9 of the AP Reorganization Act and that the distribution of its assets is not yet completed.
However, the Telangana government issued orders for taking over the plant and machinery of the corporation situated at Lalaguda and a guest house in Somajiguda, contrary to provisions of the Act. In fact, the AP government has addressed a letter to the Centre with regard to the distribution of corporation assets and its duties, and are awaiting response.
On the other hand, Telangana Advocate General BS Prasad told the court that the State has not claimed any rights over the operational units in AP. In fact, the State has not unilaterally claimed its rights over the assets of the unit at Secunderabad, and as per Section 53 of the AP Reorganization Act, the assets will belong to the State where they are located. After hearing both sides, the bench felt the need to decide whether both States have rights over the plant and reserved its judgment.