No need of statutory amendment for Telangana

Hyderabad: There is no need for constitutional amendment for formation of Telangana, experts said adding that new State would be economically sound with a surplus budget from beginning itself.

Telangana Resource Centre organised a seminar titled 'Formation of Telangana State-Constitutional, Economic and Administrative implications' here on Saturday evening.

Goa Lokayukta and former Supreme Court Judge, Justice B Sudarshan Reddy, TRS politburo member and retired bureaucrat Ram Lakshman, Prof Madabhushi Sridhar (Nalsar Univ. of Law) and Prof P Harinath (OU) took part and expressed their views.

Chief Guest Justice B Sudarshan Reddy pointed out that Article 371(d) provided special authority to President regarding appointment to government jobs in Andhra Pradesh.

He said that he was astonished by arguments from some quarters that constitutional amendment was must for creation of Telangana in view of Article 371(d).

According to Article (3), the powers for creation of a separate state rests with the Centre, he added. Sudarshan Reddy further stated that land, law & order were State subjects and if it all Centre decided to take them under its control, amendment of Constitution was required.

Meanwhile Prof. Madabhushi Sridhar reminded that after 1956, ten new States were formed and borders of 15 States were changed. Except for creation of Sikkim (which shared a border with a neighbouring nation) constitutional amendment was not required for formation of other States, he pointed out.

Prof. Sridhar felt that joint capital would be impractical since Hyderabad was at a distance of at least 200 km from Andhra border. Similar type of experiment failed in the case of Uttarakhand State, which agreed for Lucknow as its joint capital initially.

However, this proposal was given up midway due to administrative difficulties, and Uttarakhand administration operated with makeshift arrangements in Dehradun before building their own infrastructure, he added.

Earlier, retired IAS officer Ram Lakshman spoke about the economic position of Telangana State after bifurcation. He informed that around one lakh government employees and pensioners from Seemandhra region, who were drawing their salaries here, would be enrolled in the Seemandhra Government service records after bifurcation. As a result the net savings to Telangana exchequer would be in the range of nearly Rs 3500-4000 crore, the retired bureaucrat added.