House to vote on Hyderabad

The state Assembly will pass a unanimous resolution on Thursday recommending the deletion of a clause in the Presidential Order that is coming in the way of treating Hyderabad as part of sixth zone in police recruitments.

This decision was taken at a meeting convened by the Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, with floor leaders of all parties in the Assembly on Wednesday.

The move was necessiated by the Supreme Court’s dismissal of a review petition filed by the state government against its ruling that Hyderabad could be considered a “free zone” for police recruitments.

Since the issue is sensitive, it was decided that the Chief Minister would move a one-line resolution and the House would adopt the same without any debate. Mr Rosaiah did the spadework for smooth passage of the resolution by making his ministers talk to the leader of opposition, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, in this regard.

In the SC order it was stated that paragraph 14 (f) in the Presidential Order excluded police officers defined under Hyderabad City Police Act 1348 Fasli from the zonal regulations.

The Assembly resolution will now seek the deletion of paragraph 14 (f) from the Presidential Order.
The advocate-general, Mr D.V. Seetharama Murthy, told the all-party meeting convened by the Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, to discuss the free-zone row that the state could file a curative petition, but the parties opted for an amendment to the Presidential Order.

The meeting also felt that there was no need for approval of Parliament for the proposed changes as the Presidential Order was an executive order. It was decided that the Assembly resolution would be forwarded to the Union home ministry, which in turn would take up the issue with the President. The parties urged the state government to ensure that there was no delay in getting orders from the President.

Earlier, the Telugu Desam sought an immediate resolution as soon as the Assembly was convened in the morning. Other Opposition parties joined the chorus.

However, in a strategic move, the Chief Minister proposed that an all-party meeting first. Sources close to Mr Rosaiah said he wanted a commitment from TD in the backdrop of the legislators divided on regional lines.

The government then opted for a meeting of floor leaders in the Assembly apparently to avoid the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, whose MLAs quit the House.

Though the TD delegation had leaders from all the regions there was no opposition to the government suggestion and similar was the case with Praja Rajyam. The MIM, Left, BJP and Lok Satta too extended support to the move.