Rohit Vemula: Telangana HC to hear quash plea

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court will hear on November 23 the arguments on the quash petition filed by BJP leader and advocate N Ramachandar Rao on the abetment to commit suicide by Rohit Vemula, a PhD student of the University of Hyderabad. Justice Tukaram issued these orders on Tuesday. Vemula had committed suicide allegedly due […]

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court will hear on November 23 the arguments on the quash petition filed by BJP leader and advocate N Ramachandar Rao on the abetment to commit suicide by Rohit Vemula, a PhD student of the University of Hyderabad. Justice Tukaram issued these orders on Tuesday. Vemula had committed suicide allegedly due to the caste discrimination he faced on the campus. His friend Dontha Prashanth, also a PhD scholar, lodged an FIR in Gachibowli Police Station for abetment of suicide of Rohit and under provisions of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against then Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao, N Ramchander Rao, former Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and ABVP leaders Susheel and Diwakar among others. In the present petition, the petitioner argued that he had no role in the offence and that no specific Acts can be attributed to him leading to the tragedy.

Writs on tank dismissed

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A two-judge panel, comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and A Rajashekar Reddy, dismissed a batch of writ petitions which questioned the restoration of Bum-Rukn-Ud-Dowla, a historic heritage water body. The petitions were filed by Ragendranagar Housing Co-operating Housing Society Ltd and residents of Mailardevapalli village. The residents approached the court challenging the order of the National Green Tribunal. The case before NGT was for the restoration of Bum-Rukn-Ud-Dowla in Shivrampally. On an earlier occasion, the Tribunal observed that sewage and wastewater were being dumped in the water body. It also observed that the water body was being encroached upon and directed the Pollution Control Board and Urban Development Authority to take necessary steps in this regard. The counsel for petitioners argued that the order was against the principles of natural justice and prayed for suspension of the NGT order. The court while observing that petitioners are free to raise any objections before the NGT and that the court cannot entertain a parallel litigation, dismissed the batch of cases.

Hetero, Aurobindo pleas

Justice Shameem Akther reserved for orders the quash petitions filed by Hetero Drugs and Aurobindo Pharma. The companies are facing allegations of making investments in Jagathi Publications, which belongs to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s family, as a quid pro quo arrangement. The court made consecutive hearings in the CBI cases related to Jagan Mohan Reddy’s disproportion assets with respect to Hetero Drugs and Aurobindo Pharma and the arguments were concluded today.

The CBI submitted that Jagan Mohan Reddy and his associate Vijayasai Reddy had made an instrumental plan in securing investments of over Rs 1,200 crore into Jagathi Publications by the industrialists, in exchange of favours from the then Andhra Pradesh government. The CBI counsel said, Jagan had invested only Rs 73 crore in the said firm, yet he held 70% shares, whereas all the companies related to the industrialists invested Rs 1,173 crore in return to the benefits they got from the government, like allotment of lands, mines of limestone and water facility. Senior Counsel T Niranjan Reddy appearing for the companies rejected the contentions of the CBI. He argued that the petitioners are made vicariously liable without proper application of the law. He also argued that the CBI was not conducting a fair investigation. The judge reserved the case for orders.

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