Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Act, 20151
| [Act No. 12 of 2015] | [30th March, 2015] |
An Act further to amend the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014
Be it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-sixth Year of the Republic of India as follows-
1. Received the assent of the President on March 30, 2015 and published in the Gazette of India, Extra., Part II, Section 1, dated 30th March, 2015, pp. 1-2, No. 15
Prefatory Note - Statement of Objects and Reasons.- The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 (the said Act) was enacted on the 1st March, 2014 to provide for reorganisation of the State of Andhra Pradesh into the State of Andhra Pradesh and the State of Telangana.
2. Sub-section (1) of Section 22 of the Act provides for constitution of a Legislative Council for each of the successor States consisting of not more than 50 members in the Legislative Council of Andhra Pradesh and 40 members in the Legislative Council of Telangana in accordance with the provisions contained in Article 169 of the Constitution. Sub-section (2) of Section 22 provides that the existing Legislative Council of the State of Andhra Pradesh shall, on and from the appointed day, be deemed to have been constituted as two Legislative Councils of the successor States and the existing members shall be allotted to the Councils as specified in the Fourth Schedule to the Act.
3. According to Section 23 of the Act, there shall be 50 seats in the Legislative Council of Andhra Pradesh and 40 seats in the Legislative Council of Telangana, respectively. The said section also amends Entry 1 of the Third Schedule to the Representation of the People Act, 1950 so as to provide the composition of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council.
4. Clause (1) of Article 171 of the Constitution provides that the total number of members in the Legislative Council of a State having such a Council shall not exceed one-third of the total number of members in the Legislative Assembly of that State. However, the total number of members in the Legislative Council of a State shall in no case be less than forty. Presently, the successor States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are having 175 and 119 seats respectively in their Legislative Assemblies. The State of Telangana has already been allocated 40 seats in the Legislative Council, i.e., one-third of 119 seats. Since, one-third of 175 seats in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Andhra Pradesh comes to 58, it is proposed to amend Sections 22 and 23 of the Act to enhance the number of seats of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council from the existing 50 to 58 members and to amend Entry 1 of the Third Schedule to the Representation of the People Act, 1950 accordingly.
5. The Bill seeks to achieve the aforesaid objectives.
1. Short title and commencement.- (1) This Act may be called the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Act, 2015.
(2) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
2. Amendment of Section 22.- In the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 (6 of 2014)(hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), in Section 22, in sub-section (1), for the figures and words "50 members in the Legislative Council of Andhra Pradesh", the figures and words "58 members in the Legislative Council of Andhra Pradesh" shall be substituted.
3. Amendment of Section 23.- In Section 23 of the principal Act,-
(i) in sub-section (1), for the figures and words "50 seats in the Legislative Council of Andhra Pradesh", the figures and words "58 seats in the Legislative Council of Andhra Pradesh" shall be substituted;
(ii) in sub-section (2), in clause (i), for sub-clause (a), the following sub-clause shall be substituted, namely-
‘(a) for the existing Entry 1, the following entry shall be substituted, namely-
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| "1. Andhra Pradesh | 58 | 20 | 5 | 5 | 20 | 8";’. |