Telangana rejects Andhra's claim over institutions

The Telangana government on Thursday made it clear that Andhra Pradesh has no right over institutions listed under Schedule 10 of tje Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.

A day after Andhra Pradesh appointed director general of the Centre for Good Governance (CGG) located in Hyderabad, Telangana said the neighbouring state has no right to do so when there is already a director general appointed by Telangana heading the institution.

Telangana's Advocate General Ramakrishna Reddy said Telangana alone is entitled to get revenues from the institutions listed under the schedule.

The advocate general, who gave his opinion at a meeting convened by Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma, said if Andhra Pradesh wants to avail services from these institutions, it can enter into agreements with them.

The chief secretary issued directions to the officials as per the opinion given by the government's chief law officer.

The Andhra government on Wednesday appointed senior IAS officer Mukesh Kumar Meena as the director general of CGG, triggering a fresh row between the two Telugu states already locked in bitter tussle over proposed powers to governor in Hyderabad, cash-for-vote scam and phone tapping.

Andhra's argument is that it has as much stake in the institutions listed under the schedule as Telangana.

Telangana government has already appointed K. Ramakrishna Rao as the director general of CGG, which is one of the institutions listed in the schedule, which envisages that institutions and their assets will belong to states where they are headquartered. It had 107 institutions when the act came into force last year and 35 more institutions were later added.

Most of the institutions are located in Hyderabad and its outskirts.