High Court sends notice to Telangana Speaker on contempt plea by Congress MLAs

The judge opined that the Speaker had withheld the so-called permission for de-notification of the expulsion notification .
Hyderabad High Court. (File photo| EPS)
Hyderabad High Court. (File photo| EPS)

HYDERABAD: In a significant development, Justice B Siva Sankara Rao of the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday issued notice to Telangana Assembly speaker S Madhusudhana Chary seeking explanation as to why he should not be impleaded as co-respondent and issue of Form-1 notice for appearance in the contempt case filed by Congress MLAs Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and SA Sampath Kumar, who were expelled from the Assembly. The matter was posted to August 28.

Besides, the judge issued Form-1 notices to Telangana Assembly secretary V Narasimha Charyulu and law secretary V Niranjan Rao in the said contempt case directing them to appear before the court on Sept 17.

HC notice to Speaker on contempt plea by two Congress MLAs

Stating that there was prima facie case of contempt of court by not implementing the court order in providing gunmen to the petitioner MLAs, the judge issued notices to the Telangana DGP and the SPs of Nalgonda and Jogulamba districts for appearance.

The judge opined that the Speaker had withheld the so-called permission for de-notification of the expulsion notification which is per se wilful disregard to the order of the Court to see its non-implementation. Justice Siva Sankara Rao was passing these two orders in the contempt case by Komatireddy and Sampath seeking action against both the secretaries for deliberately not implementing the earlier order of the court. The judge made it clear that he had not decided anything on merit, and that any defence the two secretaries sought to rely upon, would be heard fully.

On April 17, the judge while allowing the petition filed by Komatireddy and Sampath challenging their expulsion from the membership of the State Assembly, ruled that the expulsion was invalid on the ground that the principles of natural justice were not followed.

The judge granted relief to them by setting aside the expulsion order of the State Assembly and gazette notification issued by the Telangana government notifying vacancy for Nalgonda and Alampur (SC) Assembly constituencies. The order was subsequently challenged by 12 MLAs of the TRS party, and a division bench struck down the appeal as not maintainable.

Recently, the Assembly secretary and Law secretary have filed appeals before the division bench headed by the Chief Justice against the order of the single judge who had set aside the expulsion order of the assembly and gazette notification of Telangana government. The bench posted the matter to August 16 for hearing.
On Tuesday, Justice Siva Sankara Rao passed orders, by impleading as co-respondents and issue of notices to the Speaker, DGP and the two SPs in the contempt case. In a separate order, the judge issued Form-1 notices to both the secretaries for appearance in the case.

The judge also called for information from the Pay and Accounts department why the salary bills and allowances were not prepared and passed in respect of the two MLAs  from January 2018 till date. The issue has gained significance in the light of state Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s remarks at a press conference here on Monday. The CM said that the intervention of the High Court in the legislative affairs was 100 percent not correct.

“As the leader of the House, I will prefer that the House should have power and do not want the interference of others. No one should interfere into the affairs of Legislature. Every Constitutional body should work in its limits. That will benefit all,’’ he observed.

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