SC clears decks for Telangana - TeluguPeople.com News

New Delhi: The Supreme Court cleared the decks for the formation of Telangana as the 29th State of India on the Appointed Day, June 2, by refusing to grant stay on the bifurcation process.

Dealing with a batch of as many as 23 petitions filed by Seemandhra leaders, including former Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, opposing the division of the State on the grounds that due democratic and constitutional processes were not followed in the Parliament for the passage of the AP Reorganization Bill 2014, a Supreme Court bench comprising justices HL Duttu, MY Eqbal and Sharad Aravind Bobde rejected the petitions and refused to grant any stay in the matter. The matter has been posted for further hearing on August 20.

The petitioners, also comprising former MP Vundavalli Arun Kumar, sitting MPs C M Ramesh, Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy and Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, BJP leader K Raghurama Krishnam Raju, former MLA Adusumilli Jayaprakash and others, sought to set aside the Central government's decision to form Telangana State on the ground that there were serious legal and Constitutional violations.

Their main contention was that the AP State Reorganization Bill 2014 was rejected by the State Assembly, thus making it infructuous.

The petitioners chose different aspects of the bifurcation to drive home the point that it should be stalled. While Kiran Kumar Reddy who was represented by senior counsel Rajiv Dhawan questioned the rationale behind dividing Andhra Pradesh, the first State formed on the basis of linguistic integrity in the country, Arun Kumar and others took exception to the manner in which the State was split.

The petitioners first tried to urge the apex court to stall the process of bifurcation by granting a stay. When it became clear that the SC was not going to grant the stay, then the petitioners sought direction to put off the Appointed Day, June 2.

However, the SC bench ruled out both the pleas on the ground that the bifurcation was cleared by an Act of Parliament, a Constitutional institution competent to make laws. At the same time, the SC agreed to look into the pleas of petitioners that there shall be a Constitutional bench to go deep into the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

'We will certainly examine the request after obtaining the response of the Centre. We are giving six weeks' time to the Centre to respond. Then, we will decide whether to refer the matter to a full bench or a Constitutional bench,' Justice Dattu said.

During the course of arguments, Arun Kumar and other counsels were pulled up by the SC bench. When Arun Kumar and four or five other lawyers simultaneously started presenting their arguments, Justice Dattu ticked them off saying: 'We are ready to hear any argument of anyone. But, please don't convert this court hall into a fish market by all of you talking at a time'.

The import of SC order on Monday has far reaching consequences. First, there won't be any change in the exercise that is underway to form two States ' Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on June 2.

As the matter has been posted to August 20, the officials who are engaged in the process can focus on the job on their hands for time being. Second and most import aspect is that the SC has put an end to the political uncertainty on the division process.

Though the AP Reorganization Act has been duly passed by both the Houses of Parliament and the secured Presidential assent, there was a lingering hope among some political parties which expected a stay from the SC days before the appointed day. That hasn't happened now.

Another spin off impact of the SC declining stay on Telangana will be on the future of Kiran Kumar Reddy's Jai Samaikyandhra Party. Kiran who quit as the CM after the Parliament passed the Bill and risked naming his new political party Jai Samaikyandhra will not have any relevance now as even the remotest possibility of judicial intervention in the bifurcation has disappeared for time being.

Kiran has fielded some candidates on behalf of his JSP in Seemandhra in May 7 elections has told the people that he had full hope that the SC would grant stay on the division of the State as the matter would be referred to a Constitutional bench. The SC's declining stay on the State division is sure to have an impact on JSP's prospects in the Wednesday polls.