AP lodges protest with Centre over disputes with Telangana

HYDERABAD: Alleging that Hyderabad City Police adopted partisan attitude on inter-governmental issues concerning Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, AP government has requested the Centre to operationalise the Act's provisions to bring city police under common Governor. Hyderabad is the common capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for 10 years and ESL Narasimhan is the common Governor of both the states.

The protest by the AP government came against the backdrop of bitterness between the two states over various issues, including institutions which have not been allocated exclusively to any of the two.

"Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary IYR Krishna Rao met the Cabinet Secretary and the Home Secretary on November 7. He lodged a protest of the AP government with regard to the partisanship exhibited by Hyderabad City Police in settling inter-governmental issues arising out of the Re-organisation Act," a release issued by AP government last night said.

"These issues have to be settled in terms of the Sections of the Act. The Chief Secretary briefed them about a series of incidents involving a questionable role of Hyderabad Police," it said.

The AP Chief Secretary referred to the "incidents" involving institutions like National Academy of Construction (NAC), National Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Management (NITHM) and the row over transfer of funds in AP Building Construction Workers Welfare Fund, the release said.

"The AP government has posted B Sam Bob, principal secretary to government, as in-charge Director General of NAC. When he went to the office to take charge, he was prevented by police from entering there and was requested to return. After prolonged arguments with the police for an hour, he had no other option but to come back," the release said.

"Since it is Society under the Societies Registration Act with branches across the state, the Telangana government should have allowed the existing arrangement to continue. If there was an issue, the Telangana government (should have) referred it to Government of India for a settlement. But, the institution has been taken over by the Telangana government," it said. In another incident, a senior AP official was allegedly prevented from entering her office.

"NITHM is an institution under Tourism Department and in the undivided Andhra Pradesh, the special chief secretary tourism was its chairperson. The Telangana government issued a Government Order and appointed its own chairman for this organisation.

"When the existing chairperson Chandana Khan, of the rank of Secretary to Government of India, went to office, the police prevented her from entering there. She virtually sat on the pavement for an hour. As a sign of protest, she held a meeting on the pavement. The Telangana government, in this issue too, did not follow any mechanism of adjudication as mentioned in the Act," it alleged.

The Chief Secretary has also referred to the dispute about transfer of funds in the AP Building Construction Workers Welfare Fund between the two states.

"A few days ago, AP Building Construction Workers Welfare Fund, the share belonging to AP government in this fund which is under the control and management of AP's Additional Labour Commissioner, was transferred to banks located at Vijayawada to leverage the deposits for getting loans under government programme to the beneficiaries.

"A flimsy complaint was filed in this regard by Telangana's Labour Commissioner without verifying the facts of the case," the release said. The Hyderabad Police registered a case against the Andhra Pradesh officers, it alleged.

"While these incidents took place in the morning, the complaint was lodged by the Commissioner of Labour at 1.15 PM. What was disturbing was that the Hyderabad Police entered the AP Secretariat and apprehended the Commissioner of Labour and the Additional Commissioner of Labour. They forced the driver out of the vehicle and with the help of police driver, took over the control of the vehicle," it further alleged.

The Hyderabad City Police "went around bank branches stating that a criminal case was filed" over the issue, the release alleged.

"The Telangana Chief Secretary held a meeting of all the bankers wherein the Commissioner of Police, Telangana was also present...," the release claimed.

"Citing all these instances, a request was made to the (Union) Cabinet Secretary and (Union) Home Secretary to operationalise Section 8 of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 by framing necessary rules so that the city police could come under the neutral authority of the Governor," it said.