Three days after the Centre ruled in favour of Telangana on the issue of asset sharing, the Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday decided to challenge the order.
The Andhra government had been insisting that all common facilities of government institutions or organisations should be shared between the two states based on population. But the Centre on Saturday ruled that only the headquarters of these institutions could be shared.
With AP standing to lose assets worth Rs 6000 crore, the state has now sought a clarification from the Centre over the definition of the term ‘headquarters’. AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed the Advocate General to take up the issue with the Centre.
For the past three years, the Andhra government has been seeking bifurcation of assets located in Hyderabad of all entities listed under Schedule IX of the AP Reorganisation Act, according to population. According to the Act, the headquarters of Schedule IX institutions should be shared on the basis of population ratio of 52:48 between the two states. Andhra had interpreted this to mean all assets of the institutions located in Hyderabad.
Andhra is claiming that the states must share all institutions located in Telangana state. However, the Telangana government has been urging the Centre that headquarters does not include all assets in Hyderabad, but only the principal administrative building of each institution or organisation.
On Saturday, the Union Home Ministry issued an order to the Chief Secretaries of both states, stating that it would side with the Telangana government over the issue.
According to the order, the headquarters or the principal office of the undertaking has to bifurcated based on population ratio and operational units are to be bifurcated based on location.
The Centre’s decision comes as a huge blow to AP as workshops, guesthouses and operational plants cannot be a part of the “headquarters” according to the new order.
The AP government claims assets of Transco, Genco, RTC, AP Dairy Development Federation, AP Foods, Agro industries and others which are located in Telangana.