VIJAYAWADA: Provisions pertaining to the tenure of the State Election Commissioner (SEC) are not in the Municipal Act, which was the reason why the legislation need not be amended, the Andhra Pradesh High Court was informed Tuesday.
“Provisions relating to the service conditions of the SEC are in the AP Panchayat Raj Act. That is why the State government amended only the Panchayat Raj Act through an ordinance to change the tenure of the SEC,” advocates submitted to the court in response to the latter’s question as to why only the Panchayat Raj Act was amended and not the Municipal Act for changing the tenure of the SEC.
Advocates appearing for the petitioners, who challenged the ordinance, made their presentations to the division bench comprising Chief Justice GK Maheswari, and Justice M Satyanarayana Murthy, which is hearing the petitions. They reiterated that it was illegal to end the tenure of Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar. The bench deferred hearing to Thursday.