Saturday, December 25, 2010

AP High Court upset at AP Tribunal order

By S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad, Dec. 24: A division bench comprising Justice V. Eswaraiah and Justice Vilas V. Afzulpurkar of the AP High Court on Friday expressed displeasure over an order passed by the AP Administrative Tribunal and issued notice to the Attorney-General of India to assist the court to decide on a question on whether the tribunal is competent to pass an order contrary to the order of the High Court.

The bench was dealing with a contempt petition filed by one Mr K. Narasimha Murthy, an official of the endowments department seeking a direction to punish the principal secretary to the endowments and the commissioner of endowments under the contempt of Courts Act for not reverting Mr Veerendra Varma from the post of the deputy commissioner despite court orders.

According to the petitioner, Mr Varma has been fighting a legal battle for his promotion by seeking a direction to amend the service rules with retrospective effect.

Earlier, the tribunal granted an order in favour of Mr Varma and the High Court set aside the order based on a petition filed by Mr Murthy against the tribunal’s order.

The judges opined that “the presence of Attorney General of India is necessary to deal with the situation wherein the peculiar circumstances had arisen due to passing of orders by the tribunal which are not completely in tune with the letter and spirit of the orders passed by the High Court.”

While admitting the contempt petition, the bench posted the case to February 4,2011.

Friday, December 3, 2010

10 days to explain DGP appointment

By S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad, Dec 2 : The Hyderabad Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal on Thursday granted 10 days time to state government to put forward its views on the appointment of Mr. K. Aravinda Rao as the director-general of police. Mr J. Sudheer, counsel for Mr P. Gautam Kumar, principal secretary to the home department, who challenged the appointment of Mr Aravinda Rao, alleged that the government is indulging in perjury by misleading the judiciary in furnishing facts pertaining to the appointment of Mr Rao.

The bench comprising members Ms Bharati Ray and Mr. R Santhanam was hearing the arguments on the petition filed by Mr. Gautam Kumar. The counsel said even after the Centre’s cadre review that raised the number of DG rank officers in the state to six from the earlier four, the state went ahead and promoted seven persons to the DG rank unlawfully. He told the tribunal that the cadre review was done in June 2010 and two posts fell vacant in September, but the state promoted seven persons to the DG cadre in May 2010 itself when there were no posts at all.

State told to change investigation officer in Adapa Venkanna encounter

By S A Ishaqui
Hyderabad, Dec 2:Justice N.V. Ramana of the AP High Court on Thursday asked the special counsel representing the state government to change the investigation officer in the case of encounter killing of Adapa Venkanna, a notorious house burglar from Vijayawada.

The judge was dealing with a petition filed by Ms Adapa Mahalakshmi, wife of Venkanna, urging the court to direct the authorities to appoint an independent and impartial investigating agency to investigate the matter and book a case against the police officers responsible for the encounter under Section 302 IPC and pay a compensation of `50 lakhs to her and her children.

The judge told Mr N. Sridhar, special counsel for the government to get instructions from the authorities to spare a senior IPS officer to investigate the case and suggest three or four officers so that the court can choose from one of them to investigate the case.

Mr Sridhar told the court that Venkanna was involved in over 60 criminal cases and was killed when a police team returned fire in self defence near Pedapulipaka in Penamaluru mandal near Vijayawada in the coastal district on October 4 and the Nuzvid ASP is investigating the case at present. The judge sought the names of the officer by Friday.

YSR kin appeal in High Court to stop screening of Raktha Charitra 2

By S A Ishaqui
Hyderabad,Dec. 2: Mr Y.S. Konda Reddy, a relative of late chief minister Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy approached AP High Court seeking a direction not to screen the film Raktha Charitra 2, directed by Ramgopal Varma.

Mr Konda Reddy, a resident of Sagar Society in Banjara Hills in Hyderabad, brought to the notice of the court that he has learnt that the story of the movie revolves around a negative character deliberately made to resemble YSR. He said there was a public furore after former chief minister NTR was portrayed in poor light in Raktha Charitra 1.

He contended that projecting Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy in poor light would affect the reputation of the late CM and his family. He said that scenes portraying Dr Reddy in a poor light are liable to be deleted.

He also contended that the certification of the disputed film by the Censor was illegal and violative of Section 5 B of the Cinematograph Act 1952 and also violative of Article 21 of the Constitution.

He urged the court to direct the Censor Board to review the film certification to Raktha Charitra 2 by deleting the objectionable scenes and till then not to permit the screening of the movie.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Employees file plea against TTD

By S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad, Dec 1 :Justice C.V. Ramulu of the Andhra Pradesh High Court has referred to a division bench, a petition filed by the employees of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams questioning the action of the TTD in not implementing the creamy layer in reservations and promotions to SC and ST employees as illegal.

The petition was filed by the assistant executive officer, Mr. C. Ramana, and 322 other employees of the TTD. Counsel for the petitioners, Mr K. Lakshmi Narasimha, argued that no rule of reservation can be given in the promotion to SC and ST candidates without excluding the creamy layer.

He urged the court to direct the authorities to implement the directions of the Supreme Court in M. Nagaraj v/s the Union of India, (2006). Senior counsel, Mr Bojja Tarakam, who is amicus curaie in the matter opined that the judgement of the Supreme Court did not deal with this aspect of the matter.

After hearing the arguments, the judge felt that “since an important question of constitutional importance is to be decided, it is appropriate to refer the matter before a division bench”. The judge directed the registry to place the petition before the Chief Justice for posting it to before the division bench.

AP High Court sends notice on Nims dispute

By S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad, Dec 1 : The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the state government on an arbitration application filed by the Nizam’s Charitable Trust seeking appointment of an arbitrator in a dispute between the trust and the state government.

The Trust brought to the notice of the court that there have been large-scale violations in the management of the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences including leasing out of land to various bodies including the AP Centre for Emergency Medicare (APCEM). According to the Trust, the land on which the Nims is situated belongs to the Nizam Trust and the Trust leased out the land to the state government for 99 years on certain terms and conditions.

The Trust informed the court that it has sent a notice to the government and Nims after the Trust got to know about the irregularities in the management of the Nims and also not giving proper priority to the poor for medical care.

The Trust said that it has sent a notice in August 2009 to the government seeking appointment of the Arbitrator, but the government had failed to agree on appointment of an Arbitrator.

Emaar Hills withdraws plea against order

BY S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad,Dec.1: The Emaar Hills Township Pvt Ltd has withdrawn its appeal filed challenging an order of a single judge who refused to stay the probe of the Anti-Corruption Bureau into alleged irregularities in land allotments to the company by the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation.

The special court of the ACB on September 7, 2010, passed an order on the complaint of an advocate of the city, Mr T. Sri Ranga Rao, to probe into the alleged irregularities in the land allotments by the APIIC to 16 organisations including the Emaar.

Aggrieved by the order, the Emaar filed a writ in the High Court seeking a direction to quash the proceedings. But, a single judge rejected the plea on October 20, 2010. Emaar preferred an appeal against the order.

However, the company decided to withdraw the appeal and sought permission from a division bench headed by the acting Chief Justice, Mr B. Prakash Rao, urging the court grant liberty to file a discharge petition in accordance with the provisions of the Cr.PC and the court considered the plea of the company.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Court stalls Right to Free Education rules

By S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad,Nov 30: In a setback to the state government, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday stayed a GO issued to implement the much publicised Andhra Pradesh Right to Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2010.

A division bench comprising the acting Chief Justice, Mr B. Prakash Rao, and Justice V. Suri Appa Rao issued the interim order staying the GO while dealing with a batch of writ petitions challenging the provisions of the Act.

The petitions were filed by the Chaitanya Memorial Educational Society of Kondapur and several others urging the court to declare sections 3, 4, 6, 11 to 15, 17, 23(i), 24(i)(d), 29, 30 of the Act as illegal. They also urged the court to set aside the GO.

The petitioners told the High Court that the government was forcing them to re-register and provide education to 25 per cent of students by accepting fee payable at government schools. According to them the district educational officers had issued notices to various private schools asking them to obtain fresh certificates of recognition from the competent authorities.

The petitioners said this was an infringement of their rights. The bench granted interim orders by suspending the GO and directed the respondents to file counter affidavits.