The Telangana High Court on Friday reserved its verdict on petitions challenging Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar’s decision not to disqualify Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender under the anti-defection law. A bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin said the judgment would be pronounced on September 16. Nagender was elected on a BRS ticket but later joined the Congress. The BRS sought his disqualification, following which the Speaker, acting as chairman of the tribunal, held that he had not legally defected.
BJP Legislature Party leader Alleti Maheshwar Reddy and BRS MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy challenged the decision. The petitioners argued that Nagender had voluntarily given up BRS membership by contesting the Lok Sabha elections on a Congress ticket and campaigning for the party. They said his conduct, rather than the effect of his actions on the government or the BRS’s strength in the Assembly, should have been considered.
Nagender’s counsel said the petitioners relied mainly on newspaper reports and photographs of him meeting Congress leaders and wearing a Congress scarf. Such material, he argued, did not establish that Nagender had voluntarily relinquished BRS membership. Assembly records continue to list him as a BRS member, he submitted.
Advocate enrolment process set to resume
The Telangana High Court on Friday stayed a single judge’s August 11 order that had halted the enrolment of advocates, paving the way for the process to resume. A bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin passed the order on an appeal by law graduate Kaluva Bhuvana Srija Reddy. Her counsel, Akash Baglekar, said she had applied for enrolment on July 27 and was due to take the oath on August 13, but the single judge’s order brought the process to a standstill.
He said the interim Enrolment Committee constituted by the Telangana Bar Council had already enrolled several candidates without objection and argued that stopping the process would affect her livelihood. The bench stayed the August 11 order. The Telangana Bar Council is expected to resume enrolments from Monday.
No relief for accused in food adulteration case
The Telangana High Court on Friday declined immediate relief to businessman Vikas Agarwal, accused in a food adulteration case following a police raid on an alleged adulterated-spices unit in Balapur. Justice J Sreenivas Rao adjourned his plea seeking quashing of the proceedings to August 24. Police alleged that inferior-quality cumin and caraway seeds were mixed with industrial-grade non-edible dye and oil to improve their appearance. Agarwal’s associates were arrested, while police claimed he escaped from the premises.
Public Prosecutor Palle Nageshwar Rao opposed the plea, saying food adulteration posed a threat to public health and required strict action. Agarwal’s counsel said he was not present during the raid and that no adulterated food, machinery, dye or oil was recovered from his possession or premises. The defence also argued that the case rested mainly on the alleged custodial disclosure of another accused, without independent evidence.