The standoff between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State governments over the conduct of common entrance tests is likely to end up in a legal battle between the two states.
This is amply evident following the blame game between the two states over the conduct of EAMCET. While the AP government has already announced the EAMCET schedule for the students of both the states on the plea that it was entitled to do so as per the provisions of the AP Reorganization Act. However the TS government contested this and declared that it would conduct its own EAMCET separately and would announce the schedule soon.
The tussle between the two states over conducting EAMCET has already reached the door steps of Governor E. S. L. Narasimhan, who tried to resolve the issue by holding a series of meetings with the Education Ministers of both the states. However a solution to the EAMCET crisis continued to remain elusive with both the states sticking to their guns.
Education Ministers Ganta Srinivasa Rao of AP and Jagdeeshwar Reddy of Telangana, who were attending the Education Ministers Conference being convened by Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani in New Delhi on Tuesday, took the opportunity to take the EAMCET to the notice of the central government. Both the ministers told the media that they would take up the EAMCET tangle with the Union HRD Minister for resolving the issue.
AP Education Minister blaming the TS Government for the present crisis over the conduct of EAMCET said that the central government’s intervention would be sought to resolve the problem. He had already discussed the matter with Union Minister for Urban Development M. Venkaiah Naidu and who in turn had taken up the matter with the Ministry of Home Affairs which had framed the AP Reorganization Act 2014. I was assured that the crisis would be resolved by the central government but in the event TS government continues to adopt its adamant posture, then AP would have no other option but to seek legal remedy, he added.
On the other hand Education Minister of TS Jagdeeshwar Reddy reiterated that as per the provisions of the Reorganization Act the conduct of EAMCET was vested with Telangana Government. However the AP Government without consulting us had gone ahead in announcing the EAMCET schedule. This only clearly speaks of the fact the AP Government was not interested in resolving the problem, he observed and asserted that if need be Telangana State would conduct the common entrance tests on its own.
The TS Education Minister further made it amply clear that students belonging to AP desirous of securing seat in Telangana State should write the EAMCET examinations to be conducted by the Telangana Government only.
What is intriguing is that both the states are taking umbrage of the provisions of the AP Reorganization Act to justify their respective claims over the conduct of EAMCET. Thus there is no denial of the fact that the root cause for the present crisis over the conduct of the common entrance tests seem to be the lacunae in the Act, which needs to be set right by those who had framed it. What ever might be the reason for the persisting crisis and who ever might responsible for the same, the students of both the states seemed to be caught between the devil and deep sea. Is the judiciary the last resort to prevent both the states from playing with the academic career of the students?. (NSS).
