HYDERABAD: The resolution passed by the Bendalapadu gram panchayat to expel members of a Scheduled Tribe (ST) community to Chhattisgarh was quashed on Monday by Justice Kanneganti Lalitha of the Telangana High Court.
The judge ruled that a gram panchayat enjoys no such powers. The court heard the petition filed by Kavasi Hadma and two other ST dwellers of Bendalapadu, Gurramgudem, Chandrugonda mandal in Khammam district, who challenged the resolution as ex-facie illegal, arbitrary, discriminatory and unconstitutional violation of the provisions of the Schedule Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights Act), 2006 and its Rules and Article 14, 21, 300-A, 242 and 366 of the constitution. The petitioners urged the court to quash the impugned resolution.