Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014

The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 (Act No. 6 of 2014), also called the Telangana Act, was enacted by Parliament under Article 3 of the Constitution, which empowers Parliament by ordinary law to form a new state by separation of territory, alter boundaries, or change the name of an existing state. The President had earlier referred the State Reorganisation Bill to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly under the proviso to Article 3; the Assembly rejected it, but because Article 3 requires only that the legislature express its views — not consent — Parliament proceeded regardless. The Act received presidential assent on 1 March 2014, and the appointed day for the creation of Telangana was fixed as 2 June 2014, carving ten districts of the erstwhile Telangana region out of Andhra Pradesh.

The Act's defining features address the practical complexities of dividing a linguistically united state. Hyderabad was designated the common capital of both the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for a period not exceeding ten years (Section 5), with the Governor given special responsibility for the security of life and property of residents in the common capital. The Act provided for the apportionment of assets and liabilities, the division of revenues, the allocation of the cadre of state services, and the future construction of a new capital for the residuary Andhra Pradesh — eventually conceived as Amaravati. Significantly, the Thirteenth Schedule and accompanying provisions, along with the Prime Minister's assurances in the Rajya Sabha, promised Special Category Status and other developmental concessions to Andhra Pradesh, including the Polavaram irrigation project (declared a national project) and a new railway zone — commitments that have remained politically contentious into 2026.

The Act was the culmination of the long Telangana statehood movement, which dated back to the 1969 agitation and the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1956, and which intensified after K. Chandrashekar Rao founded the Telangana Rashtra Samithi in 2001. The Srikrishna Committee (2010) had examined alternatives before bifurcation was finally approved by the Union Cabinet. The ten-year window for Hyderabad as shared capital expired on 1 June 2024, after which it became the sole capital of Telangana, intensifying the unresolved questions around Andhra Pradesh's permanent capital. Disputes over river-water sharing (Krishna and Godavari), employee allocation, and pending bifurcation-related obligations continue to feature in Centre–State relations.

For the UPSC examination, this Act is a high-yield topic in GS Paper II (Indian Polity and Governance) and in Post-Independence Indian History. The most common question angle concerns Article 3 and the constitutional procedure for state reorganisation — particularly the principle that the consent of the affected state legislature is not required, only that its views be ascertained, which distinguishes Article 3 from federal practice elsewhere. Examiners also test the asymmetry between full statehood and Special Category Status, the unique 'common capital' arrangement, and the linkage to the broader history of linguistic reorganisation begun with the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. Prelims questions may ask about the appointed day, the number of districts transferred, or the designation of Telangana as the 29th state.