Supreme Court directs AP, Telangana to reach consensus over division of Telugu Academy

A hearing was held in the Supreme Court on the distribution of Telugu Academy employees and assets. The Telangana state government has challenged in the Supreme Court against the orders of the Telangana High Court on assets and liabilities. Telangana objected that the issue of the division of the academy do not come under jurisdiction. The bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice MR Shah, which heard the petition, issued notices to the respondents. The court directed officials of the two states to sit down and come to a consensus within months said it would hold a hearing if it did not reach a consensus on the division of the academy.

The Telangana High Court had earlier directed the staff working in Telugu academies in the two states to divide their assets, liabilities and funds within three months. The daily and contract staff working in the Telugu Academy regional centres under the AP filed a petition in the Telangana High Court last November, demanding that they had not been paid their salaries from December 2019 and that justice be done if the joint academy was split.

A bench of Justices Ramachandra Rao and Amarnath Gowda heard the case in January. It has decided to formulate guidelines for partition within two months and complete the allocations within the next month. The court asked to pay wages to staff and inconvenience to petitioners at the rate of Rs. 3000 per head. The Telangana government has approached the Supreme Court challenging these orders.