Andhra Pradesh Deputy CMs Meet Governor Against TSCHE

Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Ministers K E Krishna Murthy and Nimmakayala Chinna Rajappa on Sunday met Governor E S L Narasimhan and submitted a letter protesting the formation of the Telangana State Council for Higher Education.

The Deputy CMs, in the letter, said that the Government Order Ms No 5 (issued for constituting the Telangana State Council for Higher Education) was blatantly illegal, and inimical to the interests of innocent students whose academic schedules and future education prospects would be affected for no fault of theirs.

Expressing anguish over the Telangana government's move, the Deputy CMs said that this action of the Telangana government would adversely impact the future of lakhs of students of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

The AP government quoted section 95 of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014: "In order to ensure equal opportunities and quality education for higher education to all students in the successor States, the existing admission quotas in all government or private, aided or unaided institutions of higher technical and medical education (as provided under Article 371D of the Constitution) shall continue as such for a period of 10 years during which the common admission process shall continue."

"Section 75 of the AP Reorganisation Act says that the Central Government shall fix the period of such common institutions in any case of disagreement between two States," the letter added.

Currently, the common admission process for engineering and pharmacy colleges is being handled by the AP State Council for Higher Education. (APSCHE).

Hence, this move of setting up a separate body for higher education would not only disrupt the functioning of APSCHE, but also affect the admission process that is already underway, the Deputy CMs stated.

Krishna Murthy said the counselling was very important for students belonging to the middle class and those of the SC, ST and BC communities. Though the Telangana government was claiming to have brought out the GO under dire circumstances, he said nobody really knew the reasons.

The AP government said that the Telangana government had made the move without even waiting for the Supreme Court's decision on the issue, and requested the Governor to take appropriate measures immediately, saying it was essential to protect the students from such whimsical actions of the Telangana government. (INN)