Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Thursday permitted the Board of Intermediate Education of Andhra Pradesh (APBIE) to operate bank accounts in the SBI, M.J. Market branch in the city.
A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice S.V. Bhatt was granting an interim order in a plea by APBIE challenging the action of the Telangana Board of Intermediate Education (TBIE) in asking the bank to freeze its accounts.
While granting the interim order, the bench directed that APBIE should maintain the balance that was available on the date of freezing the accounts.
Andhra Pradesh advocate-general P. Venugopal urged the court to allow APBIE to operate the accounts as the action of the TBIE and the bank was without any authority.
The bench said that if he makes a statement that the Board will not withdraw the amount which was available on the date of freezing of the accounts, and only then will it grant permission to operate the accounts. TS advocate-general K. Ramakrishna Reddy opposed the interim order contending that there was no agreement for distribution of assets and liabilities between both the boards and the act of Andhra Pradesh Board of Intermediate Education in transferring '105 crore to Vijayawada was illegal.
He said that the claim of APBIE that it has opened separate account as per the minutes of the meetings held between officers of both the states for distribution of assets and liabilities of the erstwhile board is false and the account was opened even before the division of the state. He said that as per the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act and the judgement rendered in the case of the State Council for Higher Education, all the institutions which are mentioned in the 10th Schedule of the Act are under the control of state in which they are situated.
Mr Reddy said that the Intermediate Board is in Hyderabad and thus Telangana gets all the assets and Andhra Pradesh cannot ask for a share in the money of the board’s account.
He informed that the Telangana government had taken steps to challenge the transfer of Rs 105 crore and Andhra Pradesh had filed this writ petition to pre-empt the case to be filed by Telangana. The bench asked both sides to complete the pleadings and adjourned the case to September 10. Mr Reddy urged the court not to grant interim order without there being a counter from the Telangana Board of Intermediate Education and without hearing the Telangana government.
Continue services of B.R. varsity: The Hyderabad High Court on Thursday directed the Telangana government to continue extending services of the regional centres of B.R. Ambedkar Open University located in Andhra Pradesh for the next two weeks. The High Court granted the interim order while dealing with a case seeking to declare illegal, the action of the varsity in not extending the services of the varsity in AP state since the enactment of AP Reorganization Act, 2014.
Advocate general of Telangana K. Ramakrishna Reddy said that the varsity had provided services to the 92 regional centres in AP for a period of one year as per the Act and for continuation of services, the AP government has to enter into an agreement with the Telangana government.
He said that in 2014, the government had spent Rs 14 crore for making 92 centres functional but then the Cabinet decided to limit the services of the varsity only to Telangana. The advocate general of AP pointed out there was a need for the central government’s intervention in the event of stoppage of services as Rs 400 crore corpus fund was available with the varsity.
While adjourning the case to August 27, the bench directed both the state governments to file their counter affidavits along with relevant documents by the next date of hearing.
