Funds amounting to 600 crore meant for labour department were transferred to AP
CM K Chandrasekhar Rao. (Photo: DC/File)
Hyderabad: The Telangana government has taken a serious view of the alleged diversion of labour department funds amounting to over Rs 600 crore to AP.
The government has asked the bankers to seize the joint accounts held by both the states and not to accept or approve any fund transfer from these without consulting it first. It also threatened bankers of civil and criminal consequences in case of any violation of these orders.
Acting on the directions of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, chief secretary Dr Rajiv Sharma and DGP Anurag Sharma met Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan at Raj Bhavan on Friday and lodged a strong complaint against the AP government over the issue.
Mr Rao who held discussions with senior officials of the CMO, finance and police department over the fund transfer issue, asked them to explore ways to get back the money from AP.
Telangana chief secretary Dr Rajiv Sharma held an emergency meeting with bankers on Friday and issued orders stating: “In gross violation of Sec. 52 of the AP Reorganisation Act, it has come to our notice that large amounts of funds of Andhra Pradesh Building and other Construction Workers Welfare Board mentioned at Sl. No. 56 of Schedule-VII were transferred without the knowledge or consent of the Government of Telangana, to bank branches located in residuary Andhra Pradesh.
“Such action can be taken only after transferring the due share of Telangana, which is also entitled to the proportionate interest accrued on these deposits. Already a criminal case has been booked against the persons responsible and the matter is under investigation by the Police. All banks that hold deposits from this Board are instructed to ensure that all the balances in different accounts are restored to the amounts as on 01-06-2014 i.e., the date until which these accounts were held by the undivided state of Andhra Pradesh after which they immediately belong to both the successor states of Telangana and residuary AP and need to be apportioned strictly as per the provisions of Act. A status report in this regard may kindly be furnished to the respective administrative departments of Telangana Government within the next three days. Till such time, these funds are divided as per the principles of AP Reorganization Act, no bank shall permit any withdrawals unilaterally by any of the successor states.”
The circular further stated: “Instances have come to the notice of Government of Telangana that present Government of AP has unilaterally transferred funds out of these organizations also. For example, large amounts were transferred from AP State Remote Sensing Application Centre, Hyderabad. It was done not only unilaterally in violation of law but also by a person who was not authorized to do such transfers. In spite of bringing this to the notice of the concerned banking authorities, they have not only ignored to act on this, but also continued to recognize the unauthorized person’s cheques and transferred the money. Civil and criminal action in these instances is also under process.
“All banks are instructed to go through the above provisions of the law very carefully and apply them in each situation after doing due diligence. Any misinterpretation and wrong application of the law will have consequences as public moneys are involved. As this is a matter which requires serious and immediate attention, the senior managements of the banks are requested to sensitize their staff members with respect to the above institutions and exercise utmost care to follow the provisions of the Act”.
The AP government, meanwhile, also lodged a complaint with the governor against the high handedness of the Telangana police department in detaining AP officials without proper investigation.
AP chief secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao has written to the governor, urging him to enquire into the issue and initiate action against officials responsible for detaining AP officials.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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