VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday decided to hold hearings directly in court, instead of via video conference, on petitions filed by former State Election Commissioner (SEC) Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar and others challenging the ordinance promulgated changing the tenure and eligibility of the SEC.
The decision was made by a division bench comprising Chief Justice GK Maheswari and Justice M Satyanarayana Murthy after they found people unconnected to the petitions logging in and creating nuisance during the hearings.
The bench ruled that the final hearing, which began Tuesday, will be resumed on May 4 in court and physical distancing will be observed during the same. “Only those related to the petitions will be allowed to attend the hearing,” the bench said and directed the Advocate General to issue passes to advocates, who are arguing on the petitions, and are residents of Hyderabad to attend the court in Vijayawada.
The court decision came after senior advocate Vedula Venkataramana, while presenting his arguments, insisted that anyone can approach the high court, not just the petitioners, in matters of public interest. At this juncture, the bench noticed that people unrelated to the petitions were among those present in the video conference. Some of them interrupted the hearing as they didn’t mute their voice.
Senior advocate S Satyanarayana, appearing for SEC Justice V Kangaraj, informed the bench that 45 were logged into the video conference and requested that the hearing be held direclty in court. Responding, the bench advised him to submit his request in writing. However, with the disturbance continuing, the bench expressed displeasure and decided to hold the hearing in court.
45 people log in to video conference Wednesday
Senior advocate S Satyanarayana, appearing for State Election Commissioner Justice V Kangaraj informed the bench that 45 people logged into the video conference and urged the court to hold the hearing directly in court. The bench directed him to submit his request in writing but as the disturbance continued, with some not switching off their mikes, the judges expressed displeasure. They decided to resume hearing on May 4 in court while stressing on lockdown norms