Notwithstanding the court directive to apportion the assets and liabilities of the Telugu Academy as had existed on June 2 in 2014, between the Andhra Pradesh Telugu Academy Society and the Telugu Academy in Hyderabad, the Telangana government has been unresponsive.
The Telangana High Court, on January 22, had directed the Telugu Academy and the governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to bifurcate the Academy as per the provisions of Section 53 (1) of the AP Reorganisation Act 2014 within two months.
“Despite our repeated efforts to initiate the process of bifurcation of the Academy, there has been no response from their (Telangana) side. We have been writing letters in vain,” Chairperson of the Andhra Pradesh Telugu Academy N. Lakshmi Parvathi said.
Speaking to The Hindu on Thursday, she said in a fresh letter addressed to the Chief Secretary of Telangana, she had appealed to release at least part of the joint funds to enable initiate some activities. “Andhra Pradesh has not inherited much in terms of immovable properties, but we have nearly ₹300 crore funds. I have asked them to give us at least ₹50 crore initially to activate the Academy works,” she said.
Calling the court verdict “very positive”, she wondered why it had still not spurred any action from the Telangana side. “We are adopting a very amicable approach. But we also have issues like payment to the staff and other aspects to address,” she said.
The court order followed a petition by 17 outsourced employees of the Telugu Academy, all of them appointed on contract/daily-wage basis as data entry operators and hamalis from 2002.
Since the Academy was not divided even after the state bifurcation in 2014, they remained under the administrative control of the Telugu Academy in Hyderabad, which is under the Telangana government. Though the petitioners are working in the regional centres of the Academy in the residual Andhra Pradesh, their salaries are paid by the Telangana government.
The petitioners said due to their Andhra nativity, they were refused grant of enhanced salary and wages from 2013, while their counterparts in the regional centres in Telangana were given the same.
The court asked the Telugu Academy, Hyderabad, to pay wages to the petitioners on a par with the employees in Telangana from December 1, 2019, within six weeks and wanted the Academies in both the States to discuss and agree on the modalities/guidelines for allocation of employees as on June 2, 2014, within two months.
The Andhra Pradesh Telugu Academy currently has about 60 staff members. A few of them work in Hyderabad and others at the regional centres in Vijayawada, Guntur, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Anantapur.
“For lack of funds, we are unable to print any books. This year, however, we have started with Intermediate books with the help of the Higher Education department and the Board of Intermediate Education. There’s a lot to be done, but for all that, we need adequate staff and funds,” said Ms. Parvathi.
