Telangana High Court admits writs on disqualification; BJP’s complaint against CM referred

After hearing the elaborate arguments on the position and power of the Speaker in dealing with the disqualification petitions, the Judge admitted the matter and directed the AG and others to file counters if any. The matter was posted to June 27 for further hearing.

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Monday admitted the writ pleas which questioned the inaction of the Speaker of Telangana Legislative Assembly and others in the matter pertaining to consideration of disqualification petitions filed against Bhadrachalam MLA Venkata Rao Tellam, Station Ghanpur MLA Kadiyam Srihari and Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender.

KP Vivekananda, BRS MLA of Qutbullapur constituency and Padi Kaushik Reddy, BRS MLA of Huzurabad Assembly constituency, filed these writ pleas challenging the inaction.

---

It may be recalled that Venkat Rao Tellam, Kadiyam Srihari, Danam Nagender, who got elected from the BRS, had defected and joined the Indian National Congress. On the earlier occasion, Justice B Vijaysen Reddy of the Telangana High Court wanted to know from Advocate General A Sudarshan Reddy if the Speaker of the Telangana Assembly could fix a particular date for consideration of disqualification petitions.

On Monday, the AG told the Court that tying down the Speaker to a timeline was not possible and sought time for filing a counter. By observing the same, the Judge remarked that there vests a responsibility on us to protect the democratic institution and also commented that when there is right and privilege to Speaker, there should also be the remedy.

After hearing the elaborate arguments on the position and power of the Speaker in dealing with the disqualification petitions, the Judge admitted the matter and directed the AG and others to file counters if any. The matter was posted to June 27 for further hearing.

Justice K Lakshman of the Telangana High Court on Monday directed the Public Prosecutor to take necessary steps as per the procedure, and consider the complaint at the earliest in a matter pertaining to a private complaint filed by the BJP against Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.

The judge was dealing with a criminal petition filed by the BJP represented by State general secretary Kasam Venkateshwarulu against the Chief Minister for making derogatory statements against the BJP and its leaders.

The petitioners sought directions to the special JFCM for excise cases at Hyderabad to enquire into the private complaint made by him on May 14 against Revanth Reddy for making an allegedly false, defamatory and provocative speech on May 4. It may be recalled that the vacation bench directed the state public prosecutor to get instructions on the process adopted by the lower courts in adjudicating the private complaint.

On Monday, the counsel for the petitioner contended that the case was adjourned to July without passing any orders or taking necessary action against the accused.

He further pointed out that action should be taken at appropriate time. The Judge directed the JFCM court to conduct enquiry and directed to take decision as per the criminal procedure. Accordingly, the matter was disposed of by remitting the case to lower court. However, the detailed order of the court is awaited.