Bifurcating Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University and creating P V Narasimha Rao Telangana State Veterinary University had no legal basis, they said.
A delegation of ministers of the Andhra Pradesh government led by Deputy Chief Minister K E Krishnamurthy submitted a memorandum to Governor E S L Narasimhan at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday protesting the Telangana government's decision to bifurcate Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University.
Agriculture Minister P Pulla Rao, Municipal Administration P Narayana and Government Advisor Parakala Prabhakar were also part of the delegation.
The Deputy Chief Minister said, "GO Ms No 7 for bifurcating Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University and GO Ms No 1 for the creation of P V Narasimha Rao Telangana State Veterinary University do not have any legal basis according to the A P Reorganisation Act, and are not supported by any provisions of the Act or Law." He added that they were in gross violation of the A P Reorganisation Act, 2014.
As per the A P Reorganisation Act, certain institutions were kept in Schedule 9 and other institutions in Schedule 10. For institutions under Schedule 9, a procedure had already been evolved, and a committee had been set up headed by retired IAS officer Sheela Bhide for apportioning the assets and liabilities. For Schedule 10 institutions, no such procedure had been established, and section 75 of the Act said that these institutions could continue to provide facilities for people of the other State, without any bias, Krishnamurthy said. It only spoke of provision of services but gave no plan or procedure for the bifurcation of the institutions, he explained. In fact, there were institutions that were not mentioned in either of the Schedules, and these would automatically devolve to the continuing state, which is the residuary AP, and therefore, should belong to AP, he claimed.
Addressing media persons, AP's ministers said that the bifurcation of institutions not included in the Schedules could not happen in a manner that proved advantageous to one State and affected the other. The reference to the distribution of posts in the 58:42 ratio was applicable to Schedule 9 institutions. However, when it came to extension, research and education, the Telangana government had decided unilaterally that location-specific needs were to be met, and went ahead by dividing the Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University and the Sri Venkateswara University.
Parakala Prabhakar said such powers were not mentioned in the Act. Any unilateral action to tinker with these institutions would seriously affect the equality of opportunities for the students of Andhra Pradesh, he said.
Prabhakar quoted Section 95 of the Act: "In order to ensure equal opportunities for quality higher education to all students in both the States, the existing admission quotas in all govt and private, technical and medical, aided or unaided institutions, in so-far be provided under Article 371D of the Constitution shall continue for a period of 10 years."
The AP ministers said that the Telangana government had earlier assured the Governor that it would abide by the Act, and was now going against it. They requested the Governor to advise the Telangana government not to go ahead with such bifurcation of these institutions as that would be detrimental to the interests of AP. (INN)