The Union Home Ministry has rejected outright the plea of the State government requesting for additional information on the AP State Reorganisation Bill, stating that it was not necessary at this stage.
Three weeks after Chief Secretary P. K. Mohanty forwarded the request of Lok Satta MLA Jayaprakash Narayan and some other legislators, the Centre is believed to have sent its response on Tuesday. It made it clear that it was the prerogative of Parliament to consider the amendments. It was only a draft Bill that was sent to the A. P. Legislature and no modification was required at the present stage.
The Home Ministry reportedly stated in a communication to the Chief Secretary that the President had sought views of the legislators by January 23.
Once the views were received, the draft Bill would be finalised and presented in the Parliament,
Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, and some Opposition MLAs gave letters to the Speaker highlighting several infirmities in the Bill.
They said that the Bill was incomplete as it neither gave Statement of Object and Reasons for the A. P. Reorganisation Bill nor the financial memorandum explaining allocation of funds for the proposed capital for the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh, Polavaram project, educational instiutions like IIT, IIM and other projects.
The Speaker forwarded the representations to the Chief Secretary who in turn had written to the Union Home Ministry.
