HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Friday pulled up a petitioner for failing to furnish adequate evidence in a case challenging the continuance of former IAS officer P Venkatarama Reddy as member of the Legislative Council (MLC).
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin questioned petitioner J Shankar of Dharmapuri for filing the writ petition “in haste” without annexing crucial documents. The court observed that he had submitted “a bunch of RTI papers” without supporting records, including details of the notice period for Reddy’s voluntary retirement request.
The bench made it clear that the matter could not proceed unless proper pleadings and documents were filed. On a request from petitioner’s counsel Ramesh Chilla, the court granted three weeks’ time to submit the necessary records.
Shankar has sought a quo warranto against Reddy, alleging that the former district collector was ineligible to hold the MLC post since his voluntary retirement from the All India Services was not approved by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). He contended that the then BRS government accepted his resignation “in undue haste” before fielding him as its MLC candidate.
During the hearing, senior counsel Desai Avinash Reddy, appearing for the Election Commission of India (ECI), argued that the Commission’s role was limited. He said the returning officer had scrutinised and approved Reddy’s nomination papers as per procedure.