Hyderabad: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Union of India on a petition challenging the Act which was brought out by the Centre to merge seven mandals of Khammam district in Telangana state with residuary state of Andhra Pradesh
A two-member bench comprising Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya and Justice S. A. Bobde was dealing with the petition by M. Rajender Reddy, chairman of the Telangana Advocate Joint Action Committee.
He told the Bench that the Centre merged 136 villages, 211 hamlets and seven mandals of Khammam district of Telangana with the Andhra Pradesh state to facilitate completion of Polavaram project, despite resolutions passed by Gram Sabhas of the villages against the merger.
The petitioner contended that the Union Cabinet without explanation and without referring the matter to the state Assembly as required under Articles 3 and 4 of the Constitution has issued the Ordinance for the merger and urged the court to stay the Act. The Bench declined the stay and directed the Registry to issue notices to the respondents and list the matter along with the petitions challenging the AP Reorganisation Act 2014.
