AP road shows banned

By S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad, Nov. 25: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday imposed a temporary ban on road shows by political parties stating that they were causing much inconvenience to people.
A division bench comprising of Chief Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice R. Subhash Reddy directed the police not to allow any party to conduct road shows till further orders.
The bench gave this order while dealing with a petition filed by Mr Narendra Sarma, general secretary of Abhipraay, an NGO, seeking a ban on road shows.
Before passing the orders, the bench sought the opinion of the Advocate-General, Mr C.V. Mohan Reddy, who replied that the state government did not have any objection if the court passed an interim order.
However, Mr Raghunandan, counsel for the Praja Rajyam, objected to the petitioner’s request and said road shows were part of the democratic process.
Justice Dave then pointed out that five people have already died in road shows. “Is that a democratic process?” he asked. “We will not allow people to die in the name of road shows.”“Who gave you the right to occupy streets and lanes?” Justice Subhash Reddy asked the PR counsel. “In which provision of law is it permitted?”
Justice Dave asked the PR counsel to file his counter affidavit. It also asked all political parties to file their replies to the petition within a week.