In what should bring cheer to the Telangana government and consternation to Andhra Pradesh, Ministry of Home Affairs gave its verdict on yet another contentious bifurcation of assets issue between the two Telugu States.
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were at loggerheads over the division of assets and liabilities of four Schedule IX institutions, including the AP State Road Transport Corporation. The two States differed on what constitutes a Headquarters of an institution or corporation as the Section 53 of the AP State Reorganisation Act, 2014 did not define ‘Headquarters’.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs after consulting the Solicitor General of India, ruled that headquarters would mean the principal office of the undertaking and as per the Section 53, it should be apportioned on population ratio and the operational units and common facilities are to be apportioned on location basis. A communication was sent to the chief secretaries of both the States.
Divergent views
The division of the assets of APSRTC, AP Agros, AP Foods and AP Vijaya Dairy ran into problems and was pending as both the States took different stands and the issue landed in the MHA for resolution.
Andhra Pradesh had put forth an argument that the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Act stipulated that assets and liabilities of institutions located at headquarters should be divided on the basis of population ratio.
The term headquarters would include the principal office as also all the common facilities created at headquarters for use by the combined state and thus all the assets be divided on the basis of population ratio.
The RTC has main administrative building, kalyana mandapam and bus body building unit, among others in Hyderabad.
Headquarters
Telangana on the other hand said a headquarters would include the principal administrative building and only it should be apportioned on the basis of population ratio and the operational units and common facilities would be apportioned on location basis.
The MHA further said that the term headquarters would be coterminous with the principal office of the undertaking as per ordinary dictionary meaning. In the case of more than one common facility such as workshops, guest houses and operational plants etc., such entities could not be construed to be part of ‘headquarters’ .
Earlier ruling
Earlier the MHA’s ruling on the contentious assets sharing of the Schedule X institution — AP State Council For Higher Education — said that cash balances of these institutions be shared on population ratio and the assets would belong to the State in which they were located.
This again went against the plea of AP Government that both the assets and cash balances of Schedule X institutions be shared on the basis of population ratio of 52:48.
