New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to entertain a Special Leave Petition for a direction to the Centre to sanction various projects to Telangana state as per its promise during the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh last year.
A bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice Amitav Roy made it clear to senior counsel Ramachandra Rao, appearing for the appellant S. Venugopala Reddy that in matters relating to Centre-state relations, court cannot give any mandamus.
The CJI observed, “The Sovereign state of Telangana will know what is due to them and what it should demand from the Centre. These things concern bilaterial or trilateral relations between the Centre and the states and can’t be decided through mandamus. The Centre knows to sanction projects or release funds at the appropriate time and Telangana state will get its due share. It can’t be decided in a public interest litigation.”
Counsel submitted that the Chief Minister, chief secretary and various authorities had written 23 letters to the Centre on various projects but the Centre is lethargic in its attitude as it has not replied even to one letter. He said during bifurcation, the Centre had made several promises and assurances to the newly formed Telangana state that various projects will be sanctioned.
The Centre failed to fulfil any of its promise within the stipulated period of six months. Though it is one and half years, the attitude of the Union government remains the same as it has been of no assistance to the state.”
The petitioner said he was aggrieved over the order passed by the Hyderabad High Court refusing to entertain the PIL as he has no locus standi.
