Hyderabad: Continuing his fight against the Centre’s move to divide the state, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy is exploring the possibilities of approaching the Supreme Court in the next few days against the Centre.
The Chief Minister, according to sources close to him, is in consultation with legal experts on whether to approach the apex court in his official capacity or individually.
He will highlight the state Assembly rejecting the division Bill. the move gains significance in the backdrop of the Supreme Court earlier observing that petitioners challenging the division could approach it after the debate on the Bill was over in the Assembly.
The state has to invoke Article 131 of the Constitution, which states that the apex court will have original jurisdiction in case of a dispute between the Centre and any state or states.
The chief secretary of the state has to file the case on behalf of the government.
On the political front, the CM will lead a delegation of Seemandhra ministers and MLAs to New Delhi, likely on February 4, to meet President Mr Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and AICC chief Mrs Sonia Gandhi, if she grants an audience.
“We will bring to the notice of the President about both Houses of the state legislature passing resolutions rejecting the division Bill,” said Revenue Minister Mr N. Raghuveera Reddy.
Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Sunday said that he was hopeful President Pranab Mukhe-rjee would take into consideration the resolution passed “unopposed” by the state legislature rejecting the division Bill before recommending it for tabling in Parliament.
Maintaining that he utilised the ultimate brahmastra in the form of a resolution, the Chief Minister wondered why leaders like Digvijay Singh and K. Chandrasekhar Rao were in jitters within minutes of the legislature passing the resolution. “Why should they be terrified of a resolution when it is a waste paper as they claim?” he asked.
Mr Reddy reiterated that there was no instance of a state being divided despite the legislature of the state passing a resolution against the move. He said the Constitution had empowered the President to take the final decision on a recommendation made by the Centre only after he was satisfied with the opinion of the respective state Assembly. “Let us see what happens in the next 20 days,” he said.
In his attempt to highlight that people should be given the ultimate power to decide on the division through their mandate in the 2014 polls, the CM more or less echoed the call given by YSRC chief Jagan Mohan Reddy to defeat the Congress and elect forces that will keep AP?united.
“Let the people decide on the division in the polls in which they will get an opportunity to express their desire to keep the state united,” he said. Asked if he was also giving a call to the people to defeat the Congress, Mr Reddy said he preferred to leave the decision to the people.
Revenue minister N. Raghuveera Reddy dismissed reports that the Seemandhra leaders would stage a silent protest and organise a dharna near Rashtrapati Nilayam.
Official sources meanwhile told this newspaper that the state government approaching the apex court would be a highly sensitive and tricky affair.
There were divergent views on the powers of the chief minister to direct the chief secretary to file a case in the apex court without obtaining the prior approval of the Cabinet.
In normal cases, the chief minister issues instructions to the chief secretary to file cases either with the approval of the Cabinet in its regular meeting or after obtaining its permission through circulating the file to all ministers. At times, the chief minister issues direction to the chief secretary first and gets his decision ratified by the Cabinet in subsequent Cabinet meetings.
A senior bureaucrat dealing with the matter was of the strong view that Cabinet’s approval was mandatory to approach the court. “Even the court will verify if the Cabinet has approved the filing of the case,” he pointed out.
There was also an argument that Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy was still the chief minister of the state and this in itself explained that he enjoyed the confidence of the Cabinet and Assembly. “He has every power to direct the CS to file the case, leave aside the decision withstanding the legal scrutiny,” said a former bureaucrat.
