VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court has made it clear that the cases against people’s representatives cannot be withdrawn without its permission. Any violation of the orders will amount to contempt of court, the HC observed.The court had taken suo motu cognisance of the State government’s decision to withdraw cases against the MLAs and MPs belonging to the ruling party. Similar public interest litigations were also filed.
The division bench of Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice DVSS Somayajulu heard the PILs on Wednesday. J Sravan Kumar, counsel of the petitioner, informed the court that the case against MLA Samineni Udaya Bhanu and others was withdrawn without the consent of the court. He pointed out that cases against people’s representatives can be withdrawn only with the permission of the High Court as per the order of the Supreme Court and any violation amounts to contempt of court. The court directed the government to file a counter and said if the government fails to do so, it will issue further orders on the matter.
Government pleader Maheshwar Reddy informed the bench that the cases against the people’s representatives would not be withdrawn without the permission of the court and the Supreme Court guidelines would be implemented in this regard. The court directed the government to inform it about the steps taken by it to implement the Supreme Court orders with regard to withdrawal of cases against MLAs and MPs and posted the matter to July 18.
PIL on withdrawal of case against MLA heard
The division bench of Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice DVSS Somayajulu heard the PIL against withdrawal of a case against MLA Samineni Udaya Bhanu and others. J Sravan Kumar, counsel of the petitioner, informed the court that the case against MLA Udaya Bhanu and others was withdrawn without the consent of the court