If the Supreme Court verdict has to be followed in letter and spirit, the Andhra Pradesh government headed by N Chandrababu Naidu might get richer by about Rs 70,000 crore in the form of share in the assets belonging to various corporations and institutions located in Hyderabad, which are presently held by the Telangana government.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a review petition filed by Telangana against its verdict which had held that the newly carved out state cannot claim “absolute” right over institutions, merely because they are located in its capital Hyderabad which is now being shared by Andhra Pradesh also.
On March 18, the apex court had set aside a High Court verdict upholding freezing of bank accounts of Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) on the ground that now APSCHE assets belonged to Telangana State Council (TSC) of Higher Education, as it is located in Hyderabad.
The apex court, in its verdict, had said, “The action of the Banks of freezing bank accounts of APSCHE is wholly untenable in law, which must be set aside.”
“By no stretch of imagination can it be assumed that the complete takeover of assets of the erstwhile APSCHE by TSC, on the ground that the State institution happens to be in Hyderabad, which is now a part of Telangana, was what the legislature had in contemplation while enacting the Reorganisation Act, 2014.”
The judgement, the Supreme Court said, is applicable to all the institutions and organisations listed in Section 47 of the AP Reorganisation Act. There are nearly 140 such institutions which have huge land assets and bank deposits, the total value of which is more than Rs 1 lakh crore.
As per the Act, Andhra Pradesh will get 52 per cent of the share, which comes to around Rs 70,000 crore, sources said.
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