New Delhi, July 16: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed as premature a public interest litigation petition seeking to declare as unconstitutional the demand for Telangana State.
A Bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar dismissed — at the admission stage itself — the petition filed by S. Rama Chandra Rao of Hyderabad, who also sought an interim stay on any action on the Justice Srikrishna Committee report.
When the petitioner submitted that a civil war-like situation prevailed in the State, Justice Kapadia said that since the petition was premature, it was being dismissed, and not on merits.
Creating confusion
The petitioner alleged that Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s December 9, 2009 statement on initiating a process to create Telangana State had the adverse effect of shifting of the agitation from the Telangana region to coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, creating confusion among people. On December 23, 2009, Mr. Chidambaram modified the statement because of the agitation. In February 2010, the Centre appointed the Srikrishna Committee to gather information from all sections of people of the State on Telangana State formation.
The inordinate delay in acting on the report, the petitioner argued, created a civil war-like situation in the State.
Mr. Rao wanted the court to direct the Centre to control the revolt among people well in advance and protect the country’s sovereignty and integrity; declare the demand for Telangana unconstitutional; stay the Srikrishna Committee report; and direct the Andhra Pradesh government to control the situation impartially and act against the leaders of Telangana.