Hyderabad: The Telangana government yesterday refused to vest control of Hyderabad’s law and order in the governor, setting the course for a confrontation with the Centre.
A day after the union home ministry sent a letter to the state government directing it to implement various norms to transfer powers of maintaining law and order in Greater Hyderabad to the governor, the state government wrote back saying it cannot implement the norms.
A statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said the government rejected the Centre’s suggestion to entrust special responsibilities to the governor.
On the direction of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma dashed off a letter to the Centre, making it clear that he cannot implement the norms suggested by the Centre.
The letter pointed out that section 8(3) of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act clearly says the governor should act on the advice of the council of ministers.
Earlier, the chief secretary met the chief minister Saturday morning to discuss the developments in the wake of the Centre’s letter. Sharma later met E S L Narasimhan, who is serving as governor of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
The Centre’s letter pointed out that under the Reorganisation Act, Hyderabad has been declared a common capital of the two states for a period not exceeding 10 years.
The Act has cast special responsibility on the governor with respect to law and order, safety and security of the people and vital installations as well as management and allocation of government buildings in the common capital.
The union home ministry suggested 13 norms to empower the governor.
The norms made commissioners of Hyderabad and Cyberabad and superintendent of police in neighbouring Ranga Reddy district accountable to him.
A special cell will be set up to deal with hate crimes and crimes related to extortion and another cell to deal with internal security and security of vital installations.
IANS
