Nalsar, CGG to help with bifurcation

Hyderabad: The law department of the State government has sought legal expertise of NALSAR, Centre for Good Governance (CGG) and Damodaram Sanjeevaiah National Law University for facilitating the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. They will help in building a repository of regulations, rules and laws that would help guide the agencies involved in creation of the new state. The government also plans to set up a legal cell to deal with all legal issues that may crop up during the process.

Legal experts at three have begun rendering assistance in identifying the legislations that are relevant for both the States or for either of them. They are also identifying the regulations that are either redundant or not applicable in the present context. The officials are faced the tough task of completing details of all court cases which are in huge numbers. Officials have been preparing a format for compilation of court cases and also the details on the action to be taken by the successor states. Where the matter concerns both the States and are likely to have residual action after the appointed day, the law department is planning to have a mechanism for close follow-up by both states, by flagging priority issues.

The officials working on bifurcation could foresee serious problems in future in the implementation of certain contracts and agreements reached by the undivided Andhra Pradesh and therefore, decided to analyse all the contracts signed by the state critically from the legal, cost, and implementation angles.

Necessary amendments are to be proposed in the existing contracts to ensure their smooth implementation after the Appointed Date.

Wherever a contract requires an amendment, the secretary of the department should submit detailed proposal to the government through the committee after obtaining the view of the finance department.

Stupendous task before finance dept

Meanwhile, the finance department, which has been tasked with dividing ongoing schemes and programs, is facing difficulties in getting utilization certificates (UCs) for various works in Andhra Pradesh before the Appointed Day. The department officials are asked to present UCs for all centrally sponsored schemes, externally assisted projects and the 13th Finance Commission grants. The finance officials should submit the UCs to AP Reorganization Cell by April 10. An official said, “It is difficult for them to complete the task in time. They have to receive thousands of UCs from various departments for the completed works”.