Dr. JP requests PM to get Section 14 (f) deleted

Lok Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan has urged Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to ensure that the Presidential Order (1975) is immediately amended as per the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly resolution and is implemented fully and effectively.

In a letter to Prime Minister, he said the controversy over repeal of Sec. 14(f) once again threatens to amplify the existing uncertainty over resolving the issue of regional aspirations in Andhra Pradesh. “Unless resolved quickly, this will deepen the political crisis and worsen administrative paralysis in the State.”

Dr. JP said, “The need of the hour in Andhra Pradesh is the dousing of flames of passion and restoring equanimity. And this can be achieved only by a decisive national leadership that not only stays above the fray but visibly does so.”

Dr. JP recalled that the Assembly adopted the resolution seeking deletion of Sec. 14 (f) of the Presidential Order on March 18, 2010.

The Presidential Order created a detailed zonalization framework for giving preference to local candidates in matters of public employment in State and local governments. Section 14 (f) exempts the posts of police officers recruited in the Hyderabad City region from the order’s overall zonalization scheme of giving preference to local candidates.

Dr. JP pointed out that recruitments of all subordinate police personnel were undertaken from 2001 until 2008 by considering Hyderabad as a part of Zone VI itself and not as any “free zone,” following the AP High Court’s orders, The controversy surfaced in October 2009 when the Supreme Court overruled the High Court order.

Dr. JP said deletion of Section 14 (f) would have the effect of nullifying the Supreme Court’s verdict. As a result, recruitment of all subordinate police personnel in Hyderabad would once again come under the zonalization scheme.

Following deletion of Section 14 (f), Dr. JP said, necessary operational safeguards in the interest of maintaining public order, protecting national assets in Greater Hyderabad city, and ensuring cohesion in the police force in the state could also be put in place.