Will Examine Assets Division Dispute Between State Of Andhra Pradesh & Telangana In January- SC

The Supreme Court last week agreed to examine the plea file by the State of Andhra Pradesh government seeking a "fair, equitable and expeditious" division of assets with Telangana.

A Bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice MM Sundresh has asked the State of Andhra Pradesh to serve advance copies of the petition on the Union Government and the State of Telangana. The Court posted the matter for examination post-winter vacation in the second week of January 2023.

The plea filed in the Court has been settled by Senior Advocate KV Vishwanathan and has been drawn and settled by Advocate-on-Record Mahfooz A Nazki.

The plea said despite the fact that the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana came into existence as long back as on June 2, 2014, the actual division of assets has not even commenced to date despite the repeated efforts by the Government of Andhra Pradesh seeking a speedy resolution.

"The total value of the fixed Assets of the 245 Institutions to be divided in accordance with the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014 is about Rs.1,42,601 crores. Non division of the Assets 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", read the petition filed by the State of Andhra Pradesh.

Non-apportionment of the assets has led to a multitude of issues adversely affecting and violating the fundamental and other constitutional rights of the people of the State of Andhra Pradesh, including government employees.

The State of Telangana is in possession of most of the Assets and therefore the State of Andhra Pradesh has been deprived of its legitimate right and is being forced to litigate for its share. However, the State of Telangana has "resisted all attempts of an early resolution of issues", said the plea.

A Dispute Resolution Committee was constituted with the Union Home Secretary as the Chairman and the Chief Secretaries of both States as members. The Committee has held several meetings but did not yield any positive results in the matter.

As per the plea, without adequate funding and actual division of Assets, the functioning of the Institutions in the State of Andhra Pradesh has been severely stunted.

Cause Title- State of Andhra Pradesh v. Union of India