Centre confuses on AP Reorganisation Act

 

In a written reply to Telugu Desam Anakapalle MP Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao on Tuesday in the Lok Sabha, minister of state for home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said there was no provision in the Act to issue guidelines for implementation of Section 8 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.

 

But, the same minister, on June 16, had stated in a reply to the letter written by Congress MP Palvai Govardhan Reddy, “In order to ensure that the provisions regarding the special responsibility of the Governor envisaged in the Act for the maintenance of law and order in the city of Hyderabad are implemented smoothly, the comments of the government of Telangana were sought vide this ministry’s communication dated 4 June, 2014.” He said the Centre had closed the matter after it received a reply from the Telangana government stating that it would discharge its responsibility of maintaining law and order as enshrined in the Constitution and the AP Reorganisation Act.

 

In the June 16 reply, Mr Chaudhary had also stated that there was no need to withdraw the communication sent to Telangana government by the Centre. However, a year ago, the Centre had appointed two special advisers to the Governor to assist him in implementing Section 8.

 

It was an open secret that Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan had himself sought clarification from the Union home ministry on how to go about implementing the various provisions under Section 8. In this backdrop comes Mr Chaudhary’s reply stating that there was no provision in the Act to issue guidelines to the Governor.