Telangana High Court stays swearing in of new Congress MLCs

Telangana High Court has ordered not to administer oath of office to the two new MLCs until further directions were given

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday stayed the appointment notification issued by the Governor appointing Telangana Jana Samiti president M Kodandaram and Siasat joint editor Amer Ali Khan as MLCs under governor quota.

A two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti were dealing with writ pleas filed by Kurra Satyanarayana and Dasoju Sravan Kumar challenging the validity of Governor’s rejection orders passed against them by rejecting the previous State government’s nominations. It may be recalled that the Court had directed the parties to come up with a gentleman’s agreement and not pass any adverse orders.

---

The counsel for the petitioners argued that despite the pending litigation, the Governor had issued the said appointment notification and also that the swearing in ceremony was scheduled to be held on February 1. The petitioners sought directions to suspend the said notification and to implead the nominees to the case. On the other hand, the Advocate General contended that such recommendations of the previous State Government had been rescinded. However, after hearing the matter at length, the bench observed that though the recommendations have been pulled back, the same were in place at the time of filing of the suit and faulted the notification issued by the Governor.

The bench further directed to array the newly nominated candidates as parties to the case. The bench adjourned the matter to February 8 for further hearing.