Apex court issues notices to Centre, TS government

New Delhi: A Supreme Court Bench consisting of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and M M Sundresh here on Monday issued notices to Central and Telangana governments in a plea by the State of Andhra Pradesh seeking division of assets and liabilities between the two Telugu States. Though the division of assets was to take place immediately after the bifurcation of the State, neither Telangana nor the Centre cooperated with AP in dividing the assets leading to the latter filing the petition.

It sought a declaration from the apex court that Telangana's inaction was violative of the fundamental rights of its people while seeking necessary directions to ensure speedy bifurcation of assets.

The petition filed through Advocate Mahfooz A Nazki said that despite the two States being formed in 2014, the actual division of assets had not even commenced till date and AP was seeking a speedy resolution of the dispute.

Therefore, the State moved the top court as parens patriae to represent the cause of its people as well as its own rights, including the rights under Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India, seeking a fair, equitable and expeditious division of assets and liabilities. Assets and liabilities of the institutions specified in Schedule IX (91 institutions) and Schedule X (142 institutions) of the Act, and another 12 institutions, have not been apportioned between the States.

It is further contended that non-division of the assets, valued at Rs 1,42,601 crore, is clearly to the benefit of Telangana, since about 91% of these assets are situated in Hyderabad, the capital of the erstwhile combined State, which is now in Telangana.

"The employees working in these institutions [approximately 1,59,096] have been in a limbo since 2014 solely because there has been no proper division. The position of pensionable employees who have retired post bifurcation is pitiable and many of them have not received terminal benefits. It is therefore imperative that all these assets be divided at the earliest and a quietus be put to the issue," the plea stated.

Underlining that the institutions are an extension of the State and perform a range of basic and essential functions, the plea said that non-bifurcation of the assets has seriously debilitated their functioning, which has a direct and adverse impact on the people of the State of Andhra Pradesh.