Telangana: Supreme Court advances hearing

The Supreme Court on Tuesday advanced to February 22 the hearing of a writ petition challenging the announcement made by the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on December 9, 2009 relating to a separate Telangana State.

A Bench comprising of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices R.M. Lodha and Deepak Verma posted the matter for February 22 on the plea of Bondada Purushottam Yadav, an advocate from Andhra Pradesh, that the matter be listed urgently.

The petition was initially listed for March 29.

In a brief hearing, Mr. Yadav argued that such statements creates rifts among the communities having stakes in the matter and are inimical to the national interests.

The Supreme Court had earlier dismissed a PIL filed by a former Member of Parliament M. Narayan Reddy seeking a direction to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker to accept the resignation submitted by 139 MLAs on the Telangana issue.

T-panel to go by YSR order

The terms of reference that will bind the Central committee to study state bifurcation is expected to be similar to the one that Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy had drawn up for a panel he had constituted in March last year.

Sources in Delhi say the Union home ministry, which is drawing up the terms of reference, has sought details of the Government Order 99 issued by YSR on March 4, 2009.

Sources indicate that the ministry, which examined the nine points, has come to the conclusion that issues like sharing of river waters, status of Hyderabad, minorities and migrants, stand on Maoist menace, and a strategy for the overall development of all regions, must be included in the terms of reference of any negotiations on the formation of a separate state.

YSR had set up the ‘Joint committee of both Houses of the state Legislature to deliberate on the formation of Telangana state’ under the then finance minister, Mr K. Rosaiah. That committee did not meet even once and was overtaken by subsequent political events.

Meanwhile, it appears that the announcement of the mechanism on Telangana could get delayed. While the Union law minister and AICC incharge for AP, Mr M. Veerappa Moily, on Sunday said, “The terms of reference are under preparation and not yet finalised,” the home minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, is expected to throw more light on Monday.

Mr Moily also asked partymen to “withdraw” from the Joint Action Committee agitating for T-statehood. He warned that “any violation of the party discipline will be seriously dealt with.” He asked party leaders not to rush to the media on the “sensitive” issue.