Andhra Pradesh High Court
Judges : A.R.LAKSHAMANAN, Y.V.NARAYANA
People for Economical and Effective Medicare (PEEM), Hyderabad - Appellant
Versus
Union Government of India - Respondent
Decided On : 02-14-02
Constitution of India - Articles 10 to 20 – Jurisdiction - Anxious consideration - Union Government alone is having power to deal with situations stipulated in entries mentioned above – Therefore it is submitted that State Government does not possess any power either to enter into any agreement or treaties or to deal with any Foreign Government or agency directly on its own accord - A reference to Article 162 of Constitution of India is also made in writ affidavit - It is submitted that said Article is not exhaustive in nature and not similar to that of Article 73 of Constitution of India - It is specific case of petitioner that State Government has no power or authority to enter into any agreement with Foreign Government even through Union Government – Held, This Memorandum is intended to facilitate provision of advisory services of Indian Institute of Information Technology of Hyderabad in setting up a training institute at Dubai for training of officials of Dubai in Information Technology - Expenditure for providing these advisory services would be met by Government of Dubai and involve no expenditure for Government of Andhra Pradesh. B. Memorandum of Understanding between Dubai Technology Electronic Commerce and Media Free Zone - This Memorandum of Understanding is intended to provide frame work for co-operation in field of Information Technology - It provides for evaluation and identification of opportunities available in this field in particular in areas of E-Government E-Education E-Business/commerce E. Banking/ Insurance etc – petition dismissed
( 1 ) HEARD Sri A. Satya Prasad, learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner-Association and learned Additional Advocate-General appearing on behalf of the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
( 2 ) THE present writ petition has been filed by the petitioner-People of Economical and Effective Medicare ( peem for short) represented by its Chairman, Dr. P. V. R Bhaskar Rao, Hyderabad for the following reliefs:-". . . . . . TO issue a writ, order or direction, more particularly one in nature of writ of mandamus directing Respondent No. 3 not to act upon the agreements entered into with the Dubai Government on 15-1-2001 by declaring the agreement entered into with the Dubai Government as unconstitutional and violative of the executive power available to the State Government under Article 162 of the Constitution of India apart from violative of Articles 10 to 20 of List-I of Schedule VII besides declaring that the State Government has no jurisdiction or authority to enter into agreements with the Foreign Government or agency under the parameters of the Constitution of India. "the petitioner claims to be a registered Association working for the cause of common man and also is trying to do its best in projecting and propagating the evils in the society and remedying the same by its efforts. It is seen from the affidavit of the Chairman of the petitioner-Association filed in support of the writ petition that the cause of action for the writ petition is a publication made in some news papers referring to the agreements entered into by the State Government (Respondent No. 3 herein) with the Foreign Government. According to the petitioner, the Constitution of India has conferred functions and limitations on the Union Government on one hand and the State Government on the other hand. Insofar as the Union Government is concerned, Article 73 of the Constitution of India stipulates the extent of the executive powers of the Union including exercise of such rights, authority and jurisdiction exercisable by the Government of India by virtue of any treaty or any Government. Thus, the Union Government alone is having authority to act upon by virtue of any treaty or agreement and such power was not conferred on the State Government. It is submitted by the petitioner that by virtue of the wording deployed in Article 73 the Union Government alone is having the authority or jurisdiction to enter into a treaty or agreement with a foreign country or agency and to honour the same. Entries 10 to 20 in List I of Schedule VII authorise the Union Government to deal with different situations with regard to the foreign policy. Even the legislative power is confined to entries referred to above and thus the Union Government alone is having the power to deal with the situations stipulated in the entries mentioned above. Therefore, it is submitted that the State Government does not possess any power either to enter into any agreement or treaties or to deal with any Foreign Government or agency directly on its own accord. A reference to Article 162 of the Constitution of India is also made in the writ affidavit. It is submitted that the said Article is not exhaustive in nature and not similar to that of Article 73 of the Constitution of India. It is the specific case of the petitioner that the State Government has no power or authority to enter into any agreement with the Foreign Government even through the Union Government.
( 3 ) A detailed counter-affidavit was filed by the Principal Secretary to Government of Andhra Pradesh, Industries Department supporting the Memorandum of Understanding entered into by the State Government with the Government of Dubai.
( 4 ) AT the time of hearing of the writ petition, a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding executed between the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the Government of Dubai was also filed before us and we have perused the same. We have given our anxious consideration to the points raised
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