Gentlemen’s Agreement 1956

Gentlemen’s Agreement 1956

THE following points arising out of the unification of Telangana and Andhra were discussed and the conclusions arrived at as follows: 1. The expenditure of the Central and General Administration of the State should be borne proportionately by the two regions and the balance of income from Telangana should be reserved for expenditure on the development of Telangana area. This arrangement will be reviewed after five years and can be continued for another five years if the Telangana members of the Assembly so desire.


2. Prohibition in Telangana should be implemented in the manner decided upon by the Assembly members of Telangana.

3. The existing educational facilities in Telangana should be secured to the students of Telangana and further improved. Admission to the colleges, including technical institutions in the Telangana area, should be restricted to the students of Telangana, or the latter should have admission to the extent of one-third of the total admission in the entire State, whichever course is advantageous to Telangana students.

4. Retrenchment of services should be proportionate from both regions if it becomes inevitable due to integration.

5. Future recruitment to services will be on the basis of population from both regions.

6. The position of Urdu in the administrative and judicial structure existing at present in the Telangana area may continue for five years, when the position may be revised by the Regional Council.

So far as recruitment to services is concerned, knowledge of Telugu should not be insisted upon at the time of recruitment, but they should be required to pass a prescribed Telugu test in two years’ time after appointment.

7. Some kind of domicile rules e.g. Residence for 12 years, should be provided in order to secure the prescribed proportion to recruitment of services for Telangana area.

8. Sales of agricultural lands in Telangana area to be controlled by the Regional Council.

9. A Regional Council will be established for the Telangana area with a view to secure its all-round development in accordance with its needs and requirements.

10. The Regional Council will consist of 20 members as follows: 9 members of the Assembly representing each district of Telangana to be elected by the Assembly members of the Telangana districts separately.

6 members of the Assembly or the Parliament elected by the Telangana representatives in the Assembly.

5 members from outside the Assembly to be elected by the Telangana members of the Assembly.

All ministers from Telangana region will be members. The Chief Minister or Deputy Chief Minister, whoever is from Telangana will be the Chairman of the Council. Other Cabinet Ministers may also be invited.

11. (a) The Regional Council will be a statutory body empowered to deal with the decide about matters mentioned above and those relating to planning and development, irrigation and other projects, industrial development within the general plan and recruitment to services in so far as they relate to Telangana area. If there is difference of opinion between the views of the Regional Council and the Government of the State, a reference may be make to the Government of India for final decision.

(b) Unless revised by agreement earlier, this arrangement will be reviewed at the end of ten years.

12. The Cabinet will consist of members in proportion of 60:40 per cent, for Andhra and Telangana respectively. Out of 40 per cent Telangana Ministers, one will be a Muslim from Telangana.

13. If the Chief Minister is from Andhra, the Deputy Chief Minister will be from Telangana and vice versa. Two out of the following portfolios will be assigned to Ministers from Telangana: (a) Home (b) Finance (c) Revenue (d) Planning and Development (e) Commerce and Industry.

14. The H.P.C.C. President desires that the P.C.C.

should be separate for Telangana up to the end of 1962. A.P.C.C. President has no objection.

All those above points were agreed upon in a meeting held as above on February 20, 1956. We have today further discussed about the following points, on which agreement could not be arrived at: 1) The name of the New State - the Telangana representatives wanted that the name of Andhra Telangana (as proposed in the draft bill) be retained, while the Andhra representatives wanted that Andhra Pradesh, as amended by the Joint Selection Committee be retained.

2) Regarding the High Court, the Telangana representatives wanted that there should be a bench at Guntur, with the principal seat at Hyderabad, while the Andhra representatives desired that there should be no bench at Guntur and the entire High Court be located only at Hyderabad.

Signatories

Andhra region

B. Gopal Reddy
Chief Minister, Andhra State
N. Sanjeeva Reddy
G.Lachanna
Alluri Satyanarayana Raju

Telangana Region

B. Rama Krishna Rao
Chief Minister, Hyderabad state
K.V. Ranga Reddy
M. Channa Reddy
J.V. Narsing Rao