Bhide panel fate uncertain

HYDERABAD: The fate of the Sheela Bhide committee appointed to distribute assets and liabilities between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh now hangs in balance as the term of the panel has not been extended by the Centre. The committee's term ended in August 2015 and since then the committee has not been functioning. The Union home ministry should issue an order extending the term.
During a meeting with the Union home secretary, the secretaries of two states brought the matter to the Centre's notice. During its 14 months term, out of tota 90 government companies and corporations listed in Schedule IX, as many as 59 institutions were demerged between the two states leav ing 31 companies to be yet to be divided The expert com mittee was actually formed on June 5, 2014 and had 52 meetings to finalise the de merger of companies. Dur ing the meetings, it has com pleted demerger of 59 companies for which internal audit was completed.
Apropos Telangana pow er companies' decision to re lieve Andhra native employees, the AP government had asked Sheela Bhide committee not to go ahead with the demerger of remaining 31 companies.
AP raised apprehension that Telangana would claim assets relinquishing the burden of staff. AP chief secretary IYR Krishna Rao made a written representation to Union home ministry raising apprehension over the fate of employees in companies listed in Schedule IX. He also requested the Centre to give clear guidelines with regard to employees' responsibility.
“Since the matter is pending with the Supreme Court, the Centre has not finalised any guidelines with regard to continuation of the Sheela Bhide committee,“ said a senior official in the AP government.
The AP government also made a request to the Centre seeking clarification on the definition of `headquarters' and `common facilities' in the wake of objections received on sharing RTC assets. Since most of the RTC common facilities are located in Hyderabad, sharing them has become an issue for both states. As the term ended abruptly , the committee stopped functioning leaving the fate of remaining companies unclear.