Komatireddy contempt case postponed to Oct 22
HYDERABAD: The High Court on Tuesday posted hearing of the contempt case filed by expelled Telangana Congress MLAs Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and SA Sampath Kumar to October 22. When the case came up for hearing, government counsel Santhosh handed over to Justice Siva Sankara Rao a copy of the interim order passed recently by a division bench staying for two months implementation of order of the single judge and all further proceedings, including appearance, in the contempt case against the assembly and law secretaries. After perusing the contents of the order copy the judge adjourned the case hearing to October 22.
‘Who is empowered to audit UoH accounts?’
HYDERABAD:A division bench of the High Court on Tuesday directed the central government to inform it about who the competent statutory authority to audit the expenditure of the University of Hyderabad was. The bench of chief justice TBN Radhakrishnan and justice V Ramasubramanian was dealing with a PIL filed by the Rights Society, represented by its president A Venkateswara Reddy, seeking a probe into alleged financial irregularities running into crores of rupees pertaining to the university during 2012-2015 involving former vice-chancellor Ramakrishna Ramaswamy and professor T Amarnath. Petitioner’s counsel B Rachana Reddy submitted that several irregularities in respect of university funds, appointments, encroachments and so on took place during the previous vice-chancellor’s term. She urged the court to order a probe into the issue. The bench directed assistant solicitor-general Lakshman to ascertain the information as to who the competent authority to audit the income and expenditure of the university was and to submit details to the court by September 10, and adjourned the hearing.
HC reserves order on Nagam’s PIL on PRLIS
HYDERABAD:A division bench of the High Court on Tuesday reserved its order on the PIL filed by Nagam Janardhan Reddy, former minister and Congress leader, seeking CBI probe into alleged fraud in manipulating the estimates of electro mechanical equipment meant for Palamur-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS).The bench of chief justice TBN Radhakrishnan and justice V Ramasubramanian heard the arguments of Nagam who appeared as party-in-person. The petitioner said there was a loss of Rs 2,426 crore to the public exchequer due to fraudulent revision of the value of the equipment from Rs 5,960 crore as estimated by the Engineering Staff College of India to Rs 8,386 crores by the departmental committee. The cost escalation for all the 31 pumps and motors was about Rs 2,426 crore, he said and alleged that the government had suppressed the facts.The bench said the joint venture project involved both machinery and construction works and each work cannot be viewed separately, and reserved its verdict.
Ensure rehabilitation of families, HC tells AP
HYDERABAD:A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday directed the Andhra Pradesh government to take steps ensuring that all the affected families, including agriculture labour and eligible poor, under various projects get rehabilitation and resettlement package under the Land Acquisition act 2013. Making it clear that the authorities concerned should pass fresh orders regarding the said package, the bench directed the government to take the services of legal services authorities of the state and to complete the entire process within six months.The bench comprising Chief Justice TBN Radhakrishnan and Justice V Ramasubramanian was passing this order in the PIL filed by the AP agricultural workers union, represented by its general secretary V Venkateswarlu, seeking justice to the persons affected due to land acquisition notifications issued for various projects in the state. When the matter came up for hearing, the petitioner’s counsel told the court that the state government has been claiming that there were no affected families who were found eligible in respect of various projects. Taking this submission into consideration, the bench directed the government to re-verify whether there were eligible persons or not for availing the above benefits.