On July 30, 2013, the CWC made the much-awaited and historic announcement to create Telangana and made Hyderabad the common capital for the two states of Telangana and Seemandhra for 10 years. It is to be seen if the decision on capital is
And that is the creation of Telangana with Hyderabad as its capital while Seemandhra chooses its own capital city with immediate effect. Like in the case of Shillong, Hyderabad can act as a temporary capital for Seemandhra for a few years based on “
It would be prudent if New Delhi created a solution for Telangana that adhered to the legal and constitutional sanctity. Sometimes the best solution is the simplest solution.
Already every petition against the formation of Telangana citing problems with Article 3 or Article 371D have been dismissed at the time of admission itself by the Supreme Court.
Since the CWC resolution has ruled out the model of Union Territory for Hyderabad, and since 258A or similar provison like Article 371H cannot be applied to the state of Telangana, New Delhi should desist from imposing a newly-created legal
The accord signed between Rajiv Gandhi and Longowal promised to transfer Chandigarh to Punjab on January 26, 1986, but did not deliver on it. The transfer of Chandigarh remains a highly contentious issue that remains unresolved till today.
And in the case of Chandigarh, New Delhi went against the conventional wisdom, converted it into a Union Territory to serve as joint capital for the two new successor states of Punjab and Haryana for a period of 10 years.
The city of Bombay was given exclusively to Maharashtra though Gujaratis asked for a joint capital. Madras was given to Tamil Nadu though Andhra had staked claim to the city.
It is becoming clear that any attempt to give special status to Hyderabad city to convert it into a common capital is turning out to be an administrative tangle and legal nightmare. The formation of other states have many lessons for us.
The Odiyas faced the ire and anger of Bengalis in Kolkata, Biharis are sometimes attacked by locals in Mumbai and recently people from the Northeast received threatening messages in Bangalore.
Since there are lakhs of Seemandhra people living all over Telangana and not specifically confined to Hyderabad, the bogey of insecurity to Seemandhra people living only in Hyderabad is nothing but a mischievous tactic to protect the ill-gotten
There is no reason or rationale for treating Hyderabad or Telangana like Arunachal Pradesh, which is being claimed by China. Hyderabad is neither a disputed territory nor is there a fear of external aggression from another country.
Some analysts have suggested a proposal for Hyderabad along the lines of Article 371H as in the case of Arunachal Pradesh where the governor of the state is given the special responsibility of maintaining law and order in the entire state.
Here, the Union government introduced two new Articles, 239AA and 239AB, to grant state-like administrative powers to New Delhi, while retaining the powers over law and order, land and revenue in the State List for itself.
New Delhi started out as a Union Territory and continues to remain so while certain evolution mechanism towards statehood through the 69th Amendment in 1991 has conferred state-like powers providing it with a Legislative Assembly and a Council of
For Article 258A to be used, the newly-formed state of Telangana has to decide whether it wants to hand over law and order or any other state power over Hyderabad to the Union government. The model of New Delhi is also being proposed. But this
So, what are the possible options that are available in the Indian Constitution and historical precedents to make a common capital out of Hyderabad?
Division of powers between the Union government and state government is clearly defined in the Indian Constitution, which is now applicable to 28 states of India. Article 258A allows the Governor of a state to entrust some of the state functions to
This was mainly intended to facilitate the execution of certain development projects and was never used by the Union government to arrogate to itself essential state powers like law and order, administration or revenue.
This mechanism was introduced in the Indian Constitution through the Seventh Amendment in 1956 when it was discovered that while the state government can assume some of the powers of the Union government, the reverse was not possible till then.
It is for each state to decide its capital within its territory. According to the Telangana people, Hyderabad can, at best, serve as a “transit” capital for Seemandhra for a brief period during which Seemandhra people start moving to their new
New Delhi needs to give it a thought as it is not the prerogative of Parliament to decide the capital city of a state.