Hypothesis: The state of Andhra Pradesh has been cruising

through one of the most turbulent times in its history. The

state has witnessed movements and counter-movements
during the last 5 years in favour and against bifurcation of
the state. The Union Cabinet has taken a decision for
bifurcation but agitations against it are still continuing
vigorously with tempers running high.
Curiously the demand for separation has come from the
region which houses the state capital, Hyderabad which is
considered one of the fastest growing cities in the Asia.
Usually separatist demands come from areas and regions
which are far flung from the Capital.
Therefore, the issue of Telangana offer an interesting
study into factors that nurtured and sustained the
aspiration for such a long-time .
It is also apt to examine the entire issue from the legal
perspectives to determine whether violation of
Constitutional and statutory provisions created a sense of
discrimination amongst the people of Telangana
A preliminary study reveals that there have been
violations of legal provisions inadvertent or deliberatewhich have actually accentuated the felling of
discrimination leading to the present state of affairs in the
state.

The present project ----------------------------------------------examines the issue from the legal perspective.

Objectives:
To examine various safeguards and legal provisions
provided in the constitution during the course of the
merger of Hyderabad state and Andhra State in
1956.
To evaluate implementation such provisions
To examine various other legal provision incorporated
at different times
To analyze lacunae in implementation of
constitutional provisions leading to the demand for
separation
To suggest ways and means for future to avert a
Telangna-like situation elsewhere in the nation
Historical Perspective
There is a need to understand the present struggle in its
historical entirety to appreciate and understand why the
demand for a separate state remained firm for over 57
years now.

For centuries, the erstwhile Hyderabad Samsthan1was

under the Nizam rule and it was not part of the British
India rule. During the time of Independence, the
1Samsthan urdu word meaning territory

Hyderabad Samsthan comprised of 16 districts major

part was the existing Telangana region and the minor part
consisted of 5 districts from Marathwada and 3 districts
from Karnataka.2In the Nizam rule, Urdu was the main
language and other languages like Telugu, Marathi and
Kannada were suppressed. Many Hindus and converted
Muslims learnt Urdu to get benefitted from the
government jobs. Under him the Hyderabad Samsthan
was influenced with subordination, enslavement, and
bonded labor in which only a selected, few zamindars
were given the freedom to have their say. During
Independence of India, the Nizam ruler disagreed to join
his kingdom with the Indian Territory but agreed to join
with Pakistan. This triggered a massive protest across the
Hyderabad Samsthan and the Nizam declared his
suzerainty and his private army Razakarsled by
KasimRazvi perpetrated heinous crimes to repress the
peoples struggle. It was the candid decision of the Police
Action taken by the then Home Minster and the Iron man
of India Sri SardarVallabhai Patel, notwithstanding the
standstill agreement of Nehru with the Nizam that
compelled Nizam to surrender and accede to the Indian
union on September 17 1948.3
The Hyderabad Samsthan had become the Hyderabad
State and existed as an individual territory until 1956. A
2A.L.Reddy, Exploitation of Telangana Separate State the only
solution, 3-12 (Telangana IkyaSanghatana 2003).
3A.L.Reddy, Exploitation of Telangana Separate State the only
solution, 12-13 (Telangana IkyaSanghatana 2003).

Separatist Movement started in Madras in 1953 by Telugu

speaking Tamils in Madras for a separate state for the
Telugus. On Nov. 1, 1956, Andhra Pradesh was formed with
Kurnool as its capital city. In 1953 at the national level
there was movement for reorganization of different states.
This is first time in the history of India that all the states
are under one clubbed under one umbrella and that is
India. In 1953, the government appointed first State
Reorganization Commission. This Commission proposed
that the reorganization must be on the linguistic basis.
Fazal Ali Commission
This commission was appointed in 1953 by Govt. of India
to recommend the state boundaries. This commission
proposed that the states be divided on the linguistic basis
but it was against the merger of the Hyderabad region
with Andhra State and also the chief architect of India,
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, was also against the
merger.4Despite the opposition from Telangana people for
the merger due to the experiences from 1948-1952, the
Telangana region was merged with Andhra in 1956. Nehru
termed the merger as a matrimonial alliance having

4 Appendix 1. State Reorganization Committee Report Para 383387.

provisions for divorce56. According to the State

Reorganization Commissions report, if the people of
Telangana want a separate state then a two-thirds
majority of the elected representatives of Telangana
region must express themselves in favor of the state 7. The
Andhra Assembly passed two resolutions as an
introduction to merger and to convince the people and
leaders of Telangana that their development and interests
would be safeguarded. However the Andhra legislators
met none of the provisions included in the resolutions.
During the merger there was a Gentlemen Agreement
between the leaders of both the regions, which mainly
said that Mulki rules must be honored and there must be
just distribution of resources.
Gentlemen Agreement
This agreement was signed on Feb. 20, 1956.This
Agreement was a tri-party agreement between Telangana
region, Andhra region and Central government and it had
a quasi-statutory status. Unfortunately, the Gentlemen
Agreement was never enforced or implemented; the only
promise implemented was the creation of Telangana
5Akash Deep Ashok, Which is the new state being
created:Telangana or Andhra, India Today, Oct. 4
2013.http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/which-is-the-new-state-beingcreated-telangana-or-andhra/1/313104.html (Last visited on Oct. 27
2013).
6Decccan Chronicle, Mar. 6, 1956.
7A.L.Reddy, Exploitation of Telangana Separate State the only
solution, 12-13 (Telangana IkyaSanghatana 2003).

Regional Committee8. For example according to the

Gentlemen Agreement if the Chief Minister of the state is
from Andhra region then the Deputy Chief Minister would
be from Telangana region or vice-versa. But this was never
envisaged or implemented by the Central Government and
the State Government.
The legality and constitution of the Agreement itself is a
case to investigate. There was no need to include the
chiefs of respective PCCs and the Leaders of Opposition
were ignored when the agreement was being signed.
Hence this major issue of merger of two states was
confined with the Congress Party. As the agreement was
an internal matter of the Congress it violated it.
The Nizam during his regime set up Mulki Rules, according
to which 80% reservation was provided for local people in
C and D posts at district level and 60% reservation in A
and B posts at divisional level.9According to the Mulki
rules, a person needs to stay in Telangana region for a
period of 15 years to avail the opportunity to get a
government job. This was a benefit for Telangana people
over the Andhra people but this rule was soon nullified by
enacting new laws.
8Gentlemens Agreement: Neither gentle nor an agreement,
Telangana Information Task
Force.http://etelangana.org/tel_girglani_report.asp( Last visited on
Oct. 25, 2013)
9History of Telangana II.http://sujaiblog.blogspot.in/2009/12/historyof-telangana-ii.html (Last visited on Oct. 25 2013)

Agitation of 1969 Andhra region was under the rule of British from 1803 and
it had been highly influenced by English language whereas
Telangana was under the rule of Nizam and it had no
influence of the English language. Since the new
administration required English, and since the people of
Telangana were not educated in either of them, it was
deemed that the people of Andhra were more qualified for
such positions. There was a huge migration of people from
Andhra to Hyderabad and they started occupying all the
government positions with the only pretext that Telangana
people were uneducated in English and Telugu.
The educated class of Telangana were affected the most
because they were losing out on jobs in their own region
as Andhra people were illegally occupying them. The
unrest among the people of Telangana culminated into an
agitation in 1969, demanding a separate statehood for
Telangana. This agitation was crushed by the then Prime
Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, who was not interested to
form new states. This three-year struggle claimed the lives
of 350 youth of Telangana in police shootouts. C Mohan
Reddy, farmer businessmen who was part of the 1969
agitation, recalls that the Special Police force brought from
Bihar beat him up10.As the agitation was being
suppressed, the agitators decided to choose the electoral
10Veterans recall 1969 Telangana struggle, The Hindu, Sept. 23
2011.

role. They formed a new political party Telangana Praja

Samithi11. This party clinched 10 out of the 14 Lok Sabha
seats and thereby indicating the voice of the people for a
separate state. In 1969 the Government of Andhra
Pradesh issued GO 36, due to which 25000 employees
who illegally occupied government jobs were dismissed
and people from Telangana region were recruited for the
vacant posts12.The people who were dismissed challenged
their dismissal order and also the validity of the Mulki
rules by filing a writ petition in AP High Court and they got
a interim stay order on that rule. The people of Telangana
appealed to the Supreme Court and a Five Member Bench
heard this dispute. The Five member Bench headed by
Justice Sikri held the Mulki rules valid and asked for the
implementation of GO 36 and also dismissed the writ
petition No 2524 of 1967.1314The then Indira Gandhi govt.
overturned the Supreme Court judgmentthereby showing
her discriminatory ways of ruling. The political and
educated class of the Andhra region was against the
Supreme Court judgment and this started a new agitation
but this time for a separate Andhra state. This agitation is

11 BV Mahalakshmi, With statehood to Telangana likely, all want the

HBad pie, The Financial Express, Dec. 11 2009.
12Dr K Jayashankar, GO 610 & Telangana: History is repeating itself,
Telangana Development
Forum.http://www.telangana.org/Papers/article9.asp (Last visited on
Oct. 28 2013)
13AIR 1973, Supreme Court 827, The Director of Industries and
Commerce, Govt. of AP Vs. V Venkat Reddy.
14http://www.indiankanoon.org/doc/1267864/ (Last visited on Oct.
29, 2013)

referred to as Jai Andhra Movement. This movement was

started in 1972 as a counter to Telangana struggle15.
Six Point Formula
In 1973, 6-point formula was drafted to please the people
of both the regions. Presidential orders were issued to
effectively implement Rule 3 of the six-pointformula, which
ensured employment for the local people of
Telangana16.According to the Presidential orders, 80% in
district cadre, 70% in non-zonal cadre and 60% in
reserved zonal cadre are reserved for candidates of the
local region and the remaining vacancies that arise are to
filled by open competition17. But the government did not
implement this presidential order. The entire state was
divided into 7 zones. The zones are
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Zone
Zone
Zone
Zone
Zone

1
2
3
4
5

Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam.

East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna
Guntur, Prakasam, Nellore.
Chittor, Kadapa, Anantapur, Kurnool.
Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal,

Khammam.
6. Zone 6 Hyderabad (district), Rangareddy,
Nizamabad, Mahbubnagar, Medak, Nalgonda.
15 MK Vellodi, From 1948 to 2013: A brief history of the Telangana
Movement, Firstpost, Jul. 30
2013.http://www.firstpost.com/politics/from-1948-to-2013-a-briefhistory-of-the-telangana-movement-998093.html (Last visited on
Oct. 29, 2013)
16The Andhra Pradesh Public Employment Organization of Local
Cadres and Regulation of Direct Recruitment Order,
1975.Pdf.http://www.aponline.gov.in/Apportal/HomePageLinks/Presid
entialOrder/Index.pdf (Last visited on Oct. 28, 2013)
17

7. Zone 7 Hyderabad and Secunderabad cities.

According to this system people from other zones are not
eligible to apply for government jobs in another zone but
30% of all government jobs were open for people from all
zones. Although, according to Rule 2 in Six-Point formula,
central university was established in Hyderabad people
from Telangana could not get the teaching jobs. Many
government jobs, which were non-gazetted,were made
gazetted to overcome the hindrances.Non-locals were
actually occupying the posts that were made for locals. So
Hyderabad and Secunderabad city zone was merged into
Zone 6 to enable more people from Telangana to get the
jobs in the city. However even this was ignored by the
rulers and these little safeguards left for the people of
Telangana were robbed.
Under the six-point formula, a non-local was eligible for a
government job in Telangana region provided he resides in
Telangana region for a period of 4 years. This was a set
back for Telangana youth because this gave a greater
chance for people from Andhra to get jobs in Telangana.
The failure of the implementation of Six-Point formula
resulted in the following
Educational backwardness in Telangana region.
Jobs in APSRTC, State Electricity board were thrown
open to everyone in the state depriving Telangana
people from getting the job.
Singareni Colleries and other jobs in big
manufacturing units were open for all and thereby
depriving the youth of Telangana with jobs.

 As mentioned above 20% of the jobs in a respective

zone was open for everyone and due to this
Telangana people were deprived of jobs whereas jobs
in Andhra were filled by people of that region itself18.
GO 610
Telangana employees represented to the Govt. of India
and Govt. of Andhra Pradesh that the six-point formula
was not implemented correctly and were being misused
by people of Andhra region due to abolition of Mulki rules.
The then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh,
NandamuriTaraka Rama Rao, constituted a Three Member
Committee and on their recommendation GO 610 was
issued. According to Rule 5 of this order all appointments
and promotions made by flouting the rules should be
examined and decided by March 19861920.
As majority of the officials working in the Secretariat were
from Andhra region GO 610 was never implemented.
Girglani Commission:
In 2001 the government constituted the One Man
Commission headed by Mr. Giglani. This commission was
18 KR Amos, Telangana Employees and Job Opportunities:
Dimensions of Discrimination, Telangana Development
Forum.http://www.telangana.org/Papers/article6.asp (Last visited on
Oct. 29 2013)
19A.L.Reddy, Exploitation of Telangana Separate State the only
solution, 28 (Telangana IkyaSanghatana 2003).
20G.O.Ms.No. 610 govt. of AP.http://etelangana.org/Articles/Go
%20M.S%20no%20610.pdf (Last Oct. 29 2013)

appointed to investigate the reasons for the failure of

implementation of GO 610. The commission submitted the
report to the government on Sept. 30, 2004. The only
action that the government took was nominating the
ministers and dispatching the report to various
departments in the Secratariat. This shows the casual
approach of the Congress government that in its poll
manifesto promised a separate state for Telangana and
won the elections. The Commission had brought out
different types of maladies, which have occurred over the
years. The Commission had suggested that criminal
proceedings should be initiated against the violators who
went against the Presidential Order. As the tradition was
going, even the recommendations given by this
commission were not taken into consideration by the
Congress government.
Launch of Telangana RashtraSamiti
K Chandrashekar Rao, deputy Chief Minister of Andhra
Pradesh in 2001, resigned from his post and also from
Telugu Desam Party launched a new political party
Telangana RashtraSamiti. Its main aim was to achieve
separate statehood for Telangana. In the 2004 elections
TRS formed an alliance with Congress party and the
people of Telangana gave TRS a resounding mandate. The
issue of Telangana was included in the Common Minimum

Programme by the then UPA government21. Dr. APJ Abdul

Kalam in his first address to the Parliament in 2004
promised a separate state for Telangana22. With respect to
this promise made by the President and the inclusion on
Telangana state demand in the Common Minimum
Programme, the government had appointed a new
committee headed by ShriPranab Mukherjee. This
committee proposed to set up a second States
Reorganization Commission23.
All these remained futile with no concrete action on
separation dampening the spirits of the people of
Telangana. During the Assembly and the Parliament
elections, 2009, almost all the political parties which have
taken part in the elections have promised separate state
for Telangana either directly or indirectly which once again
demonstrate the intensity of emotion for Telangana and
the aspirations of the people of the Region.
Supreme Court verdict on the status of Hyderabad

21National Common Programme of the Government of India May 2004,

Pdf.http://pmindia.nic.in/cmp.pdf (Last visited on Oct. 29 2013).

22Omer Farooq, Coming Soon From Telangana, Aug. 10,

2013.http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/oped/coming-soon-from-telangana.html
(Last visited on Oct. 30, 2013).

23SwarajThapa, Why Congs Telangana call had to come, Jul. 31,

2013.http://www.indianexpress.com/news/why-cong-s-telangana-call-had-tocome/1148999/ (Last visited on Oct.29, 2013)

On Oct. 12, 2009 the Supreme Court in its judgment said

that Hyderabad is free zone and all recruitments in certain
government jobs including the Hyderabad Police Wing
should be on a competitive basis and not on zonal basis. It
also said that even clause 14(f) of the Presidential Order,
1975, excluded the recruitment of certain government
jobs; including the people who were recruited under the
Hyderabad Police Act.
This verdict by the Supreme Court brought up a fresh row
and gave a boost to revive the agitation of separate state
for Telangana.
SC held that the State Capital cannot be confined to
a particular region of the state
Present Agitation:
Various regional political parties like TDP, TRS and national
parties like BJP, CPI put forth a demand that the state
should pass a resolution asking the Central government to
amend the Constitution24. On Nov. 29, 2009, K
Chandrashekar Rao (popularly known as KCR) sat on fast
demanding the government to go back on the free zone
status of Hyderabad and a separate statehood for
Telangana25. His notion was that if Hyderabad were
24SC rejects Andhras plea, declares Hyderabad a free zone, India
Today, Mar. 17,
2010.http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/SC+rejects+Andhra+Pradesh'
s+plea,+declares+Hyderabad+a+'free+zone'/1/88772.html (Last
visited on Oct. 29, 2013)
25 Prasad Nichenametla, On the brink, KCR used his fast card, Dec.
11, 2009.http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Hyderabad/Onthe-brink-KCR-used-his-fast-card/Article1-485194.aspx (Last visited
on Oct. 30, 2013)

declared a free zone, youth of Telangana would be

deprived of government jobs. On Dec. 7, 2009, the
Congress government called for anall-party meeting in
which all the political parties expressed their consent for
the formation of separate state of Telangana. On Dec. 9,
2009, the Central Government announced that the
process of formation of Telangana had started. As soon as
this announcement had come out protests erupted in
many parts of Andhra region and succumbing to these
protests, regional parties like TDP, CPM reversed its
stances and also Congress reversed its stance by releasing
another statement on Dec. 23, 2009 that the process of
formation of Telangana is placed on hold for more
consensus. In February 2010, govt. appointed Sri Krishna
Commission to deal with the issue. Perhaps Sri Krishna
Committee was the only committee in history of India,
which found its own recommendations
unviable26.Telangana agitation has been continuing.
Employees went on non-cooperation in February 2011.
Responding to the call of the NGOs,
SakulaJanulaSammewas observed for over 42 days when
life in the entire Telangana had come to stand still. There
was not even a whisper against it which sums up the
intensity of the sentiment.

26 K Srinivasulu, M ChannaBasavaiah, D Ravinder, Sri Krishna

Committee: Thorough but unviable, Jul. 25,
2012.http://socialsciences.in/article/srikrishna-committee-thoroughunviable (Last visited on Oct. 30, 2013)

Meanwhile suicides of youth and students continued. It is

documented that about 850 students have committed
suicide so far for Telangana since December 2009.
The ongoing agitation for Telangana deeply split the entire
state. The split is deeply felt across the state and in every
sphere of life. The division has already happened at the
psychological level.

Analysis:
As discussed above people of Telangana have been
consistently being discriminated by the Andhra leaders
who were more educated and had abundance of financial
resources. As they were being discriminated people of
Telangana fought back each and every time and the result
of it being a new creation of law or legal agreement or a
government order, to safeguard the interests of the people
of the region. In 1956 when Telangana people were
against the merger Andhra politicians formed a legal
agreement (Gentlemens Agreement), gave protection
under the Section 115 of State Reorganization Act and
promised to safeguard the interests of the people. In the
next five years many more policies were made to assure
the people of Telangana but none of them were being
implemented at the executive level as most of the
employees in the Secretariat were from Andhra region who
were very much disinterested to implement the policies
and laws made for the sake of Telangana region. In 1969

the educated youth of Telangana who were losing out on

jobs started an agitation for separate state of Telangana.
This time the Central Government announced Eight Point
formula and issued a government order, GO 36, to
safeguard the employment opportunities and other
interests. In 1972, Supreme Court of India also gave a
decision upholding the validity of Mulki rules and asked
the State Government of Andhra Pradesh to protect the
matter of employment opportunities under Article 35(b) of
the Indian Constitution. This time as the judgment was
against them, the Andhra legislators and people from that
region erupted and agitated for a separate state for
Andhra. Due to this agitation the Govt. of India announced
a Six-Point formula. Had this formula was implemented,
Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, according to prescribed order the
consequences would have been different because the SixPoint formula safeguarded the interests of people of both
the regions. The zonal system was prescribed in this SixPoint formula, which was actually a benefit for all the
people of the state of Andhra Pradesh but the Andhra
people used even this system for their own benefit. They
flouted rules by producing fake certificates and other
means. The executive and legislature in practicality
nullified the judgment of the Supreme Court of India
regarding the validity of Mulki rules. In 1985 when again
the employees represented to both the State governments
and Central Governments regarding the misinterpretation,
government issued GO 610 to safeguard the interests of

the employees in Telangana region but even this was not

implemented at the executive level because the entire
state beaurocracy was in the hands of Andhra employees.
In 2001, One-Man Commission was appointed to
investigate in detail the reasons for the failure in
implementation of GO 610. But this commission failed
drastically because it couldnt even obtain the statistics
needed for the investigation. However even if the
commission were successful in doing the investigation,
there would be no use of it because the damage has
already been done for these many years. None of the
laws, agreements, governments orders and judgments
passed by the highest judiciary were also neglected when
it came to implementation.
The politicians from Andhra region including the Honble
Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh are raising an issue of
legal amendments required to split the state. According to
Article 3 of the Indian Constitution, if the Union
Government wants to make a new state it should get the
bill passed in the Parliament by a majority. There would be
a requirement for amendment of Article 371D if only
provisions were being added or deleted. Article 4 of the
Indian Constitution also lays down that there is no need
for any amendment to carve out a new state 27. In 1956,
more than 10 states were formed and in 2000 when 3
states were formed there was no constitutional
27 Indian Kanoon.http://indiankanoon.org/doc/1015123/ (Last visited
on Oct. 30, 2013)

amendment was made and even in the separation of

Telangana no amendment would be required. Indian law is
based on Civil Law and Common Law. Civil Law is statute
based, in this case there is no need for the Bill for
Separation of Andhra Pradesh be passed in State
Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh but Common Law
is based on precedents, in this case there is need for the
Bill for Separation of Andhra Pradesh be passed in the
State Legislative Assembly because in the year 2000 when
BJP have three states it made it compulsory that a
resolution needs to be passed in the State Legislative
Assembly to carve out a new state. But as mentioned
above, constitutionally there is no need for the Bill to be
passed in the State Legislative Assembly.
Conclusion and Recommendations:
The present agitation going on for Telangana is not the
result of any politician or organization brainwashing the
minds of people but it is the cause coming directly from
the people against their feeling of discrimination and
subjugation by Andhra leaders and executive officials for
these many years. There have been many laws made but
none envisaged and implemented by the Central
Government and State Government.
Now that the state is being divided, the government needs
to ensure that in the new state all the laws and provisions

made are implemented without any disparities so that this

kind of a situation does not occur in the future.
This is a lesson that the entire administrative department
of India can learn because in this case, only one region in
the entire state was developed i.e., Hyderabad is the only
place in entire Andhra Pradesh to be well developed with
all the facilities. This was the mistake made by the
executive and legislature body of the state. All the people
of Andhra Pradesh invested all their funds in Hyderabad
and converted in into a Metropolitan city and neglected all
other areas of the state. In future, when developing a
state or a region there must be all round development in
all areas so that there are no imbalances between the
development of the regions and also between the people.

Add somewhere in the conclusion