VIJAYAWADA: The YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government, which passed the AP Infrastructure (Transparency through Judicial Preview) Bill - 2019 to ensure transparency in awarding contracts, took a step forward in this direction on Wednesday by appointing retired Telangana High Court judge Justice B Siva Sankara Rao to undertake the judicial review process. His initial term will be for a period of three years. The government made the appointment on the recommendation of High Court Acting Chief Justice C Praveen Kumar.
The Bill envisages judicial preview of tenders for projects that are worth above Rs 100 crore to ensure transparency in awarding contracts.Any tender for a project above Rs 100 crore cost will first be sent for preview by the retired judge and the tender or work will be put on public domain for one week to seek the opinion of the people.
The approving authority will scrutinise the tender papers and then give his final decision in eight days, during which time he will be provided with the required technical assistance and logistics.
BC Commission chairman appointed
Born in Sakurru village of Amalapuram mandal in East Godavari district on March 29, 1959 (recorded date of birth April 10, 1957), Rao hails from a family of freedom fighters and educationists.
He pursued a degree in law and master degree in commerce from Andhra University, masters degree in law from Kakatiya University and PhD in law from Acharya Nagarjuna University.
After enrolling as an advocate in March, 1984, he entered the judicial service in 1996 as district and sessions judge and worked as additional district judge at Khammam and later rose to the level of judge of the High Court of judicature at Hyderabad, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, on March 2, 2016 and retired on attaining the age of superannuation on April 9 this year.
Prior to his retirement, Rao approached the Supreme Court with an appeal to correct his date of birth.
Siva Sankara Rao’s argument was that his actual date of birth was March 29, 1959, but was recorded as April 10, 1957 in his certificate. However, the apex court dismissed his petition.Meanwhile, it is learnt that the government appointed retired judge Justice Shanakar Narayana as chairman of the BC Commission. He worked as the judge in the High Court of combined Andhra Pradesh.