Hyderabad HC rejects petition on Governor's special powers

The Hyderabad High Court today rejected a public interest petition seeking a direction to the Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to exercise special powers under a section of the Reoganisation Act that has become a bone of contention between the two States.
The Section 8 of Andhra Pradesh Reoganisation Act gives powers to the Governor on maintaining law and order in Hyderabad, the common capital of the two states for 10 years starting June 2, 2014.
A division bench refused to overrule the objection raised by the High Court registry to list the petition with the Governor who enjoys constitutional immunity, as a party.

The petition was subsequently dismissed by the HC.
The Governments of Andhra and Telangana, created under the Act, had been sparring over implementation of Section 8.
The TDP-led government in Andhra Pradesh, which is building a new capital city, has been demanding that Governor E S L Narasimhan exercise the special power and look after law and order in Hyderabad.

However, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has opposed the demand and insisted that law and order was a state subject and Hyderabad was an integral part of Telangana.
The Section 8 of Act states that for the purposes of administration of the common capital area, the Governor shall have special responsibility for the security of life, liberty and property of all those who reside in such area.

The responsibility of the Governor shall extend to matters such as law and order, internal security and security of vital installations and management and allocation of government buildings in the common capital area, it says.