Hyderabad: The Centre has turned down the request of several Seemandhra MLAs for copies of the Attorney General G. E. Vahanvati’s opinion on AP?division.
Union home secretary Anil Goswami wrote to the state government that the AG’s opinion is “privileged”?information and cannot be shared.
The Centre also refused to part with information pertaining to the inter-departmental consultations on the division. The home secretary said a status note which was prepared as part of the consultation process among the representative ministries is not relevant any more as the Reorganisation Bill was already in place.
The Centre’s decision came as no surprise. “There is every possibility of legislators opposing the division approaching the court and producing the AG’s opinion in support of their argument,”?sources pointed out.
The MHA took the stand that all such information is required at the time of introducing the Bill in Parliament.
