'Telangana has potential to prosper but not under existing law'

First, there will be a common high court for Telangana and AP states till a separate high court is constituted for AP

Telangana has the potential to be a prosperous state, but not with the existing Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, according Gautam Pingle whose book ‘The Fall and Rise of Telangana’ was released here on Thursday.

Pingle,  a former dean of Research and Consultancy at the Administrative Staff College of India, wrote the book just before the bifurcation Bill was enacted. He, however, told Business Standard that his observations in the book even applied today as most of the provisions of the Bill, except for amendments to a few clauses, were incorporated in the Act.

The book, which dissected the Telangana problem from its inception to the birth of a separate state, says there are “deep-rooted flaws” embedded in the legislation, which seeks to preserve the unity of many sectors for common or Central control.

First,  there will be a common high court for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (AP) states till a separate high court is constituted for AP. But no time-frame has been fixed for constitution of the new high court.

In such a scenario, Pingle says, it is feared that every Telangana government order, posting, transfer or land litigation will be challenged and eventually decided on regional grounds. This is because the high court today has an overwhelmingly majority of judges, lawyers and officials from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, referred to as Seemandhra.

At present, the book states, the high court has 29 judges from Seemandhra as against only 6 from Telangana. Out of a total of 305 junior civil judges, only 126 are from Telangana. Similarly, only 37 out of the 143 senior civil judges and 29 out of 180 district judges are from Telangana. The rest belong to Seemandhra.

Pingle points out that the judges are also reported to be divided on the basis of regional sentiments and there are reports of lawyers seeking their cases be heard by specific judges to get them decided in their favour.  

Hence, “it is feared that the court may be influenced by regional biases that may seriously affect the credibility of its judgements.”

Second, the 2014 Act grants government employees the option of serving in either of the successor states. The book says that a vast majority of them are natives of Seemandhra and allowing the option meant that the Telangana government will be run by the people of Seemandhra.

Third, according to the book, the legislation negates Telangana its upper riverine advantage by transferring control of the rivers to river boards, under Central control.  Consequently, in the case of Krishna river water, Telangana will “have to fight for every drop of water” as the water allocation to AP by the Bachawat Commission “has been diverted to Seemandhra”.  

Fourth, the AP Generation Company (AP Genco) assets are divided, but not the corporation itself. “Thus, the allocation of power generated will be controlled by power engineers from the Seemandhra region,” Pingle cites in his book.

Though Singareni Collieries Company  Limited (SCCL) has been allocated to Telangana, the Act stipulates that Singareni’s coal allocations to Seemandhra power plants are to continue forever. “To freeze coal linkages of SCCL for all time is a bad commercial and public policy and contravenes existing powers under which SCCL operates,” Pingle points out.