N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, former Chief Minister, on Thursday moved the Supreme Court for a direction that the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, is unconstitutional. He claimed that the law “violated the basic structure of the Constitution, having been enacted without following the due procedure of law.”
A Bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam and Justices Ranjan Gogoi and N.V. Ramana posted the writ petition for hearing on Friday on a mention from counsel A.D.N. Rao seeking urgent listing. A Bench headed by Justice H.L. Dattu will hear a batch of petitions challenging the Act.
“The bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and Seemandhra is in breach of federalism, one of the basic features of the Constitution as held in the Keshavananda [Bharati] and S.R. Bommai judgments. The bifurcation is politically motivated,” said the petitioners — Mr. Reddy and two former Ministers of his Cabinet, Pithani Satyanarayana and Sake Sailajanath. The petitioners said the Act was cleared in the Lok Sabha in just 23 minutes. “ What transpired in the House “is not known to anybody as the proceedings were not telecast as a blackout was declared on the ground of technical reasons.”
Even in the Rajya Sabha, the Act was passed on February 20 without carrying out the amendments suggested by MPs.
They also questioned the validity of the Act as it does not contain the Statement of Objects and Reasons that indicate the intention behind a piece of legislation and the Financial Memorandum that gives an estimate of recurring and non-recurring expenditure involved.