AP copied our biz norm web designs, data formats: Telangana

Hyderabad, Jul 5: The Telangana government has accused Andhra Pradesh of violating copyright laws by reproducing their web designs and data formats that were submitted to the Centre for 'ease of doing business' (EoDB) presentation, a charge denied by the latter.

Telangana today said it filed a case with Cyber Crime cell against Andhra Pradesh alleging it has indulged in "plagiarism" by copying their web designs and data formats that were submitted to the Ministry of Commerce.

All States are supposed to submit replies to 340 queries related to various systems in place they have in terms of "ease of doing business".

Though the last date for submission was June 30, the Department of Industrial Policy has extended it to July 7, Arvind Kumar, Telangana Principal Secretary for Industries, said. He alleged the Andhra Pradesh government copied some of the web pages belonging to the Telangana government, thus violating copyright laws.

"Screenshots are similar, typos are similar. It is not a coincidence. We believe they (the Andhra Pradesh government) have copied our software allocation without prior permission from us. It is unethical. We filed a case against them under cyber crimes laws.

Investigation is going on," Kumar said. When contacted Parakala Prabhakar, Communications Advisor to Andhra Pradesh, refuted the allegations levelled by the Telangana government. "It is really slander and everybody knows the kind of reforms we undertake in the state.

There is no necessity to copy from someone else," Prabhakar told PTI. Last year, Gujarat secured the first spot, followed by AP, in EoDB rankings given by the World Bank to judge investment-friendly nature of the states. Telangana stood 13th.

Telangana uploaded information on e-filing of Commercial Courts tracking system before June 30 and the format was copied by the AP government, Kumar said.

"There were some spelling mistakes in our webpage. The AP government copied that also without bothering to correct them. It is a clear case of plagiarism." Telangana Minister for Industries K T Rama Rao has written a letter to Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighting ethics to be followed for securing a good rank in EoDB.

PTI