Telangana High Court issues notice to State official
The panel was hearing a PIL on the question of filling up vacancies of the posts of Additional Public Prosecutors
Hyderabad: A two judge panel of the Telangana High Court comprising Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy on Wednesday issued suo motto notice to Ravi Gupta, Principle Secretary Home, to purge himself of contempt of court.
The panel was hearing a PIL on the question of filling up vacancies of the posts of Additional Public Prosecutors. The State Government was previously directed to file an affidavit pertaining to posts lying empty for two years for the post of Additional Public Prosecutors in Criminal Courts. The Panel observed that if the same is not complied with it would be construed as a gross obstruction of justice and delay in trials in criminal cases since Additional Public Prosecutors have a pivotal role to play in these matters. The matter has been adjourned to July 7
Prosecute contractor
The panel directed the State Government to immediately initiate steps to prosecute Suresh Babu, the diet contractor of Niloufer Hospital. The contractor is charged of misuse of funds of over Rs. 1 crore meant for the diet of the patients.
The contractor in a separate writ petition challenged the action seeking to cancel his contract. The said case was tagged on to the PIL challenging the inaction against the erring contractor. The court sent the writ petition filed by the contractor back to the single judge for consideration independent of the PIL. The panel refused to look into the questions where any action was taken against Suresh Babu pertaining to his other contracts as they were not subject matter of the PIL.
Vaccination to transgender community
The panel directed the State to coordinate with the Telangana Hijra Transgender Samiti to ensure that members of the community are vaccinated for Covid. The panel was hearing a PIL filed by Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli, a transgender and an activist seeking direction to the State authorities to ensure protection for members of the transgender community. In the previous hearing the panel had directed the State to file an affidavit to show steps taken by it to bring members of the transgender community under the Aarogyasri scheme of the Telangana government.
The panel noted that due to the ongoing pandemic members of the transgender have been facing difficulties in getting vaccinated as they do not have access to the CoWin application and do not possess the pre-requisite documents for registration for vaccination. It was submitted by the counsel for the petitioner that members of the said community who managed to get registered for the vaccination process had to further face stigma at the centres. The panel further directed the State to file a detailed affidavit in response and directed the matter for further hearing to July 28.
Dismissed bail plea
A two-judge panel comprising Justice A Rajashekar Reddy and Dr Justice Shameem Akther of the Telangana High Court dismissed the bail application of a convict in a POSCO case. The panel was dealing with a criminal appeal filed by Shaik Qasim who is sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life for the offense punishable under Section 376(2)(i) of IPC (Criminal Law (Amendment) Act) and Section 5(m) r/w 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
He was also sentenced to a fine of Rs.50,000/-, to the victim as compensation under Section 357 Cr.PC, in default, to suffer imprisonment for six months. The advocate representing the accused requested bail as he is in prison for six years. The case related to the sexual assault of a minor girl. The learned Additional Public Prosecutor submits that this is a brutal case committing rape on a child aged only six years, which has to be condemned. Therefore, the panel dismissed bail as there is no ground for granting bail and the question of enlarging him on bail pending the appeal did not arise.
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