After over three years of uproar in the Parliament over the legality of bifurcation of the state, disputing the manner in which the AP Reorganisation Bill was passed, the issue again surfaced today in the Supreme Court.

Challenging the bill enacted by the Parliament several petitions were filed in the Supreme Court in 2014 and the then Chief Justice H L Duttu issuing notices to the Centre refused to stay state bifurcation. After almost three years putting in cold storage, the petitions were listed today.

The petition were filed seeking the apex court to declare the bifurcation illegal and Reorganisation Act of 2014, leading to the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and formation of new State of Telangana.

Allowing the petitions, the bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud raised a basic question “What better `index’ to ascertain whether a State is to be divided or not, other than public demand.

Petitioner’s lawyers demanded that there should be a “federal index” for State formation. They argued that the Centre cannot be allowed to ride roughshod over the federal structure of democracy and divide States into bits.

Then Chief Justice asked “What can be a better index than the entire State demanding (bifurcation)”. The petitioners claimed that the Centre had introduced the Bill when it was rejected by the Andhra Pradesh State Legislature.

The petitioners include the then Congress MPs Rayapati Sambasiva Rao (presently TDP MP), Undavalli Arun Kuarm, TDP MP C M Ramesh, YSRCP MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy and BJP leader Raghu Rama Krishna Raju.