Row over 10th Schedule institutions in APRA

The Supreme Court has recently ruled out that Telangana cannot claim the absolute right over the institutions that are listed under Tenth Schedule of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act 2014 (APRA) and that are located in the capital city of Hyderabad, with is sharing with Andhra Pradesh.

This has come again in limelight with Supreme Court judgement that has brought down the curtains on a bitter war over the assets and liabilities of Andhra Pradesh State Council for Higher Education (APSCHE) between two Telugu States, out of 107 institutions listed under the Tenth Schedule in the Act.

A Bench of Supreme Court has observed that “the main trust of the argument of the both the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of State of Telangana, as well as the impugned judgement and order passed by High Court is that the successor State of Andhra Pradesh has absolutely no right over the institutions in the city of Hyderabad, by virtue of the fact that Hyderabad falls in the successor State of Telangana.

Heavy emphasis has also been placed on Section 75 of the APRA, on the ground that the assets belonging to the specified institutions of the Tenth Schedule exclusively belong to the State institutions, since the Act does not provide any apportionment of them.”

Section 75 reads as follows: (1) The Government of the State of Andhra Pradesh or the State of Telangana, as the case may be, shall, in respect of the institutions specified in the Tenth Schedule to this Act, located in that State, continue to provide facilities to the people of the other State which shall not, in any respect, be less favourable to such people than what were being provided to them before the appointed day, for such period and upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon between the two State Governments within a period of one year from the appointed day or, if no agreement is reached within the said period, as may be fixed by order of the Central Government; (2) The Central Government may, at any time within one year from the appointed day, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify in the Tenth Schedule referred to in subsection (1) any other institution existing on the appointed day in the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and, on the issue of such notification, such Schedule shall be deemed to be amended by the inclusion of the said institution therein.

The Supreme Court has pronounced that the assets be divided between two states in the population ratio of 58.32 : 41.68 as per 2011 Census. The bench which heard the arguments of the Telangana government has not accepted them. It pronounced that if two States did not agree for this agreement, the Centre would constitute a committee to arrive at an agreement within two months. The bench felt if the Telangana State’s argument were to be accepted then it would render section 47 of the APRA useless and nugatory.

The Bench of the Supreme Court was hearing the appeals challenging the judgement passed by Hyderabad High Court, wherein observed that the funds and assets lying at the present location of Andhra Pradesh State Education Council for Higher Education (APSCHE), now exclusively belong to the State of Telangana Education Council for Higher Education (TSCHE).

The APSCHE advises the State hovernment in matters relating to higher education in the State, and to oversee its development for perspective planning. Actually, under APRA, APSCHE is required to continue its functions for both States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana respectively, until an agreement was reached between two States. Soon after, the Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSC) came into existence, to discharge the same functions for the State of Telangana, as the APSC does for Andhra Pradesh.

This could be demystified, as per APRA, 107 institutions are listed under tenth Schedule and under Section 75. As per Act it indicates that each State has control and ownership of the institutions located in that State and mandates each State to provide services of the institutions located in that State to the other State on mutually agreed terms.

Out of 107 institutions, 97 are located in Telangana. For this reason, AP leaders took the position that as the institutions were built by the common resources of the erstwhile state, the ownership and/management of these institutions should be divided on population ratio, that is, 58% for AP and 42% for Telangana.

The first case was that of the AP State Council for Higher Education (APSCHE). The Telangana Government appointed a Chairman to head their Telangana State Council for Higher Education (TSCHE) and deputed him to operate from APSCHE headquarters in Hyderabad. The Chairman was not given any facilities or cooperation to assist his urgent work regarding examinations like EAMCET etc.

The Telangana Government then used powers under Section 101 of the APRA to take over the APSCHE and rename it as TSCHE. It also instructed bankers not to honour cheques signed by the former APSCHE officials and froze all APSCHE funds. Promptly, the APSCHE went to the High Court. The High Court observed that the assets and properties and funds whatever lying at the present location of APSCHE belong to TSCHE and the action of the Telangana government was in keeping with the powers delegated to it by Parliament and as a result, the APSCHE ceased to exist.

Aggrieved by such ruling of the High Court, the APSCHE went in appeal to the Supreme Court, which did not stay the order of the High Court but said the AP government could set up its own Council for its own people if it wishes. This case has established the nature and applicability of Section 75. Meanwhile, the Telangana government had written three letters to the AP government offering to provide services from its 97 institutions to AP.

It requested AP to indent for the services required. It also suggested that the payments would be in the proportion of AP usage to Telangana usage.
On the other hand, the Telangana government informed AP that it had no need of 6 AP institutions but wanted 42% of the services of (1) Andhra Pradesh Study Circle for Backward Classes (2) State Animal Husbandry Training Centre (3) Sri Padmavathi Mahila University and (4) Dravidian University. It also offered to pay for these services based on mutual usage. But no response has come from AP government.

Eventually, the Telangana Government on 27th May 2015 wrote to the Andhra Pradesh government stating that, due to its non-response, it had concluded: “the Government of Andhra Pradesh declines to offer the Government of Telangana, the requested allotment in the four Schedule 10 entities in Andhra Pradesh and the Government of Andhra Pradesh has no need for the services of the 97 Schedule 10 institutions in Telangana.” It, therefore, came to the final conclusion that: “Section 75, APRA Act is effectively non-operational.”

By trying to get what it was not entitled to, AP government has effectively deprived its people of the services of 97 Telangana institutions. But, the Supreme Court verdict on APSCHE shocked the TS government; it plans to file a review petition in the Apex Court in a day or two.