Telangana HC stays suspension of 106 govt employees for attending BRS meeting, citing MCC

106 employees include 38 employees from SERP and 68 from NREGS.

By Legal Correspondent

1. The Telangana High Court on Friday granted stay on suspension of 106 government employees of Society for the Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) for attending a BRS meeting on April 7, in violation of the Model Code of Conduct. Jusitce Pulla Karthik was dealing with a two writ petitions filed by the employees challenging the suspension by the district collector, Siddipet. 106 employees include 38 employees from SERP and 68 from NREGS. It is the case of the petitioners that Siddipet District Collector Mr. Manu Chowdhary suspended the government employees including contract and permanent employees for attending a meeting hosted by BRS Medak Lok Sabha candidate P. Venkatrami Reddy at Reddy Sankshema Bhavan. The petitioners sought directions to set aside the suspension order. It may be recalled that BJP candidate for Medak Lok Sabha, M Raghunandan Rao had raised concerns over the violation by lodging a telephonic complaint with the Election Commission on April 7, alleging that the BRS party had conducted an unauthorized meeting in violation of MCC rules. The Counsel representing the petitioners argued that, the District Election Officer and Collector Siddipet is not the competent authority nor the disciplinary authority to place the petitioners under suspension. The court observing the violations of the collector has stayed the suspension of employees and permitted to resume their duties immediately. Accordingly, the matter was posted to June 18 for further hearing.

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2. The Telangana High Court on Friday, in an unprecedented move directed the State police to conclude investigation in the encounter case of the Shruti aged 23 and Vidyasagar aged 32 within a period of six months by relying on apex court decision on encounter cases in PUCL v. State of Maharashtra. The bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Jukanti Anil Kumar further directed the concerned investigation officer to take into consideration any information or evidence that may be provided by the family members of the deceased. It may be recalled that, Shruti, an engineering graduate from Hyderabad and Vidyasagar, a car driver was allegedly linked to the underground cadre of CPI (Maoist) and were killed in an alleged fake encounter by the police in the Rangapuram forest of Warangal. This encounter marked the first such incident after the formation of Telangana state. The bench was dealing with a public interest litigation case filed by the Civil Liberties Committee (CLC) represented by its office bearer Chilaka Chandrasekhar. The petitioner complained that the state government had failed to comply with the guidelines to be followed in the encounter case, laid down by the Supreme Court in the case of PUCL case. Petitioner counsel, Rizwan Akther contended that, no investigation being made into the death of Shruti and Vidyasagar. The officers involved have not been arrayed as accused in compliance with PUCL guidelines, he further highlighted. On the other hand, the Additional Advocate General, Imran Khan contended that, there is complete compliance with the guidelines laid down in PUCL v. State of Maharashtra. On the conclusion of investigation, if the officers are found responsible, departmental enquiry would be initiated against them as per law, the Additional AG said. However, the Court observed that despite a long lapse of time, the investigation remained incomplete. After hearing the rival contentions, the Court directed conclusion of investigation in a time bound manner by taking evidence of the family members if any. Additionally, the Court emphasized that the investigation be done strictly in adherence with the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in PUCL v. State of Maharashtra.

3. The Telangana High Court on Friday issued notices to Union of India, State government and others in a matter pertaining to challenging the new mandate of age limit of 6 years for admission into 1st Grade. Pesarikayala Pareekshith Reddy filed this public interest litigation case seeking directions to Department of School Education to strike down the new mandate of age limit for 1st grade children and to restore the admission criteria which was previously followed by the States/Union Territories, including the grace period for calculating the age as on the cut-off date for admission. Also, the petitioner in his petition further sought for a research and scientific study to be conducted on the aspect of addiction of children to mobile phones, its effects on their brain development, physical and mental well-being. Though there is no representation from the petitioner today, a two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti admitted the public interest litigation case and adjourned the matter.

4. Justice B Vijaysen Reddy of Telangana High Court on Friday directed Director General of Police and Warangal Commissioner to provide 1 plus 1 police security to Aroori Ramesh, BJP member. Aroori Ramesh filed this writ plea challenging the action of Police Department in withdrawing his 3 plus 3 police security. The petitioner sought directions to police authorities to restore the 2 plus 2 police security as he was recently attacked twice during his election campaign and that his life is under threat. On the other hand, the Government pleader representing State said that the police enquiry does not reveal any threats on the life of the petitioner and argued that the petitioner cannot be granted police security. Observing that the petitioner is now contesting on behalf of a national party in the upcoming Loksabha Elections 2024 and considering the two instances of attacks on him, the judge directed police to provide police protection to Ramesh and adjourned the matter to June 7.