Chief Secretary term extension upheld by Andhra Pradesh High Court

By S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad, April 10: A division bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar of the AP High Court on Wednesday upheld the action of the state government in extending the service of Chief Secretary Dr P. K. Mohanty for a period of four months.

The bench dismissed two PILs by M. Chandramouleswara Rao and the Consumer Guidance Society represented by Diwakar Babu, challenging the action of the state government, contending that the Centre had no jurisdiction to act on the recommendations of the Governor in the absence of  a Cabinet. Delivering the verdict, Justice Sengupta said that the Governor, in the absence of an elected government, has the power to recommend the extension of the tenure of the Chief Secretary.

The bench has considered the contentions of the state government that it had sought the intervention of the Governor as there was intimation from the then caretaker Chief Minister expressing his inability to deal with the issue of extending service of the Chief Secretary.

The bench said that the circumstances forced the intervention of the Governor and the Governor has discretionary powers to intervene in such circumstances. The bench found that there were no such ingredients in the pleas to warrant interference of the court to issue a writ of quo warrant against the extension of the services of the Chief Secretary.