What is The Issue Between AP And Telangana on Managing Assets And Liabilities?

What is The Issue Between AP And Telangana on Managing Assets And Liabilities? The Andhra Pradesh government has moved the Supreme Court seeking an equitable and expeditious division of assets and liabilities between itself and Telangana, contending the actual division of assets has not even commenced more than eight years after the successor state was born. It said it has approached the top court as “Parens patriae” (parent of the nation), claiming that non division of the assets has benefited Telangana since about 91 per cent of these are situated in Hyderabad.

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Context

On the issue of assets and liabilities distribution, several bilateral meetings between the two States(AP and Telangana) as well as those convened by the Union Home Ministry failed and the Andhra Pradesh government has now ap­proached the Supreme Court seeking “just, reasonable and equitable apportion­ment” of assets and liabilities.

Background

• Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated and the new state of Telangana came into existence on June 2, 2014.
• After the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad became the joint capital of the two states and the transitional arrangement is scheduled to end in 2024.

What Is The Issue Regarding Assets?

• There are 91 institutions under Schedule IX and 142 institutions under Schedule X of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014.
• The division of another 12 institu­tions not mentioned in the Act has also be­come contentious between the States.
• The issue involves 245 institutions with a total fixed asset value of ₹ 1.42 lakh crore.

What are AP government’s claims?

• The AP Government is firm on the imple­mentation of the recommendations given by the expert committee headed by retired bureaucrat Sheela Bhide for bifurcation of 89 out of the 91 Schedule IX institutions.
• But it lamented that the Telangana govern­ment had selectively accepted the recom­mendations leaving others which was re­sulting in delays in division of assets and liabilities.

Recommendations Of The Expert Committee

• The Expert Committee has made recommenda­tions with respect to the division of 89 out of the 91 Schedule IX institutions.
• Its re­commendations on the division of assets that are not a part of the headquarter as­ sets attracted criticism from the Telangana government which said it is against the spi­rit of the Reorganisation Act.
• The division of several institutions like the RTC head­ quarters and the Deccan Infrastructure and Landholdings Limited (DIL) which have huge land parcels in its possession have become the key bone of contention between the two States.
• The committee, for instance, recommended the division of RTC workshops and other assets which do not come under the definition of ‘head­ quarter assets’. Telangana opposes these divisions. The land parcels held by the DIL do not come under the provisions of the Act either.

What is the stand of Telangana?

• The Telangana government has contended that the expert committee’s recommenda­tions were against the interests of Telanga­na. There is a clear definition of division of headquarter assets in Section 53 of the Re­ organisation Act.
• The government is firm that the assets located outside the erstwhile united State like Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in New Delhi could be divided between the States on the basis of population as per the provisions of the Act.

What Should Be Done?

• Several meetings of the dispute resolution committee headed by the Union Home Se­cretary and comprising of the Chief Secre­taries of the two States and those con­vened by the dispute resolution sub­committee headed by the Home Mi­nistry’s joint secretary could not break the impasse.
• The Act empowers the Union Govern­ment to intervene as and when needed.
• Hopefully, the Home Ministry takes steps to expeditiously and amicably settle the issues between the two States.

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