VIJAYAWADA: The High Court of Andhra Pradesh on Friday directed Nimmagada Ramesh Kumar to approach the Governor with regard to his reinstatement as State Election Commissioner (SEC), and told him to submit a memorandum requesting him to implement the court’s order to this effect.
Dealing with the contempt of court petition filed by Ramesh Kumar, a division bench comprising Chief Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice M Satyanarayana Murthy said appointment/reinstatement is under the purview of the Governor as per Article 243 (K) of the Constitution and this was mentioned in the High Court’s verdict.
Pointing out that the Supreme Court had not issued any stay despite three hearings on the petition filed by the state government challenging the High Court verdict, the bench asked the government why it has not implemented the court’s order. Directing the government to file a counter, it adjourned hearing of the case to July 24.
In his argument, the petitioner’s counsel N Ashwini Kumar said that by not implementing the court’s order, the government had resorted to contempt of court. When the court asked him if they brought the issue of Article 243(K) of the Constitution to the notice of the Governor, Ashwini Kumar said they sent an e-mail to the Governor. The court asked the petitioner to submit a copy of the e-mail, to which Ashwini Kumar said they would submit it on Monday.
Advocate General Subrahmanyam Sriram said the hearing in the government’s petition challenging the HC verdict is still under process in the Supreme Court and special leave petitions were filed in the Supreme Court.
‘No SC stay, file counter in a week’
The Advocate General said that after the SC issued notice to Ramesh Kumar, he has not filed a counter. He added that the govt will bring the contempt of court petition to the SC’s notice
The Advocate General asked the HC to adjourn the case for three weeks and sought two weeks to file a counter. But the HC pointed out that the SC has not issued a stay, and gave one week