TS told to give civic bodies share of funds

The Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday directed the TS government to release `532 crore, which is the share of local bodies in the Seigniorage fee collected from mining activities in the erstwhile Ranga Reddy district from 2006 to 2016 to the newly-reconstituted districts of Ranga Reddy, Vikarabad and Medchal.

Justice B. Siva Sankar Rao, while allowing a petition by Chevella mandal ZPTC member Chimpula Shailaja and another, directed the state government to release the share amount to the local bodies of panchayat raj in the three districts proportionately as per GO No. 255 dated August 2, 2001.

P.S.P. Suresh Kumar, counsel for the petitioner, submitted that as per the GO, the amount collected as Seigniorage from different levels of mining in the villages under the districts should have been distributed in the ratio of 25:50:25 among gram panchayat, mandal parishad and zilla parishad.

He told the court that about `572 crore was collected in the erstwhile Ranga Reddy district from 2006 to 2016 and, as of now, only `39.64 crore was released to the local bodies in the district. Mr Kumar urged the court to direct the government to release the balance `532 crore to the local bodies of the three districts.

Opposing the plea, the state government submitted it was reviewing the GO that was issued by the government of undivided AP.

The government contended that the petition was not maintainable as the petitioner has no locus to file the plea and it is the local body that is competent to move court.

Rejecting this contention, the judge allowed the petition by directing the government to release the amount due to the local bodies within two months.