AP govt lodges complaint with guv on renaming varsity

The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday lodged a formal complaint with Governor ESL Narasimhan over Telangana’s bifurcation of Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University. 

In a strongly worded memorandum, AP accused Telangana of violating the tenets of AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.

State deputy chief minister K E Krishnamurthy, minister for agriculture P Pulla Rao, minister for municipal administration, urban planning and development P Narayana and advisor to the government Dr Parakala Prabhakar submitted the memorandum to the governor.

Krishnamurthy said “GO Ms No 7 for bifurcating Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University and renaming it Prof K Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University and GO Ms No 1 for the creation of PV Narasimha Rao Telangana State Veterinary University, do not have any legal basis according to the AP Reorganisation Act and are not supported by any provisions of the Act or Law.”

According to the AP Reorganisation Act 2014, certain institutions were kept in Schedule 9 and others in Schedule 10. 

For institutions under Schedule 9, a procedure has been evolved and a committee headed by retired IAS officer Sheela Bhide has been set up to apportion the Assets and Liabilities. Under Schedule 10 institutions, no such procedure has been established and section 75 of the Act says these institutions can continue to provide facilities for people of the other state, without bias. 

The Act only talks of provision of services for institutions under section 10 but no plan or procedure for bifurcation of the institutions. In fact, institutions that are not mentioned in either of the Schedules would automatically devolve to the continuing state. 

Andhra Pradesh ministers said bifurcating institutions that do not feature in either of the Schedules, especially in a way that would prove more advantageous to one state, is against provisions of the Reorganisation Act. Requesting the Governor to advise Telangana not to bifurcate common institutions that would seriously impact AP, the ministers reminded that the new state has gone back on its earlier promise to abide by the Act.

Notwithstanding the strong opposition, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday rechristened Archarya N G Ranga Agricultural University in the name of Telangana ideologue Prof Jayashankar at a function in the varsity’s Rajendranagar campus.