VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday temporarily suspended the GO 1 issued by the government prohibiting public meetings and rallies on national and State highways and municipal and panchayat roads in the State, till January 23. The court asked the government to file its counter mentioning the circumstances that led to the issuance of the GO and posted the matter for hearing on January 20.
The bench of Justice Battu Devanand and Justice V Radhakrishna Krupasagar issued the interim orders while hearing the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by CPI State secretary K Ramakrishna.
Due to Sankranti holidays, the vacation bench is hearing urgent matters only. The High Court registry objected to filing of the PIL before the vacation bench.
Petitioner’s counsel N Aswini Kumar pleaded the vacation bench of Justice B Devanand and Justice Krupasagar to hear the matter immediately by treating it as a lunch motion petition. When the bench agreed to do so, Advocate General S Sriram objected to the same.
When the matter came up for hearing post lunch session, Aswini Kumar said the GO makes it mandatory for any public meeting or roadshow to get permission from police as per Section 30 of the Police Act. He, however, said this is against the rules of the Police Act. He further said the government came up with the GO, which prohibits public meetings and rallies without the mention of the word ‘Ban’ in it.
Sriram strongly objected to the vacation bench hearing the PIL and said the government does not have any information about the PIL filing. He informed the court that no political party applied for permission for public meetings or rallies and the government has not denied permission for any such activity.
Justice Devanand said if the British rulers did bring the GO 1 then there would not have been freedom struggle. Never in the 75 years history of Independent India, a government order like GO 1 was issued, he observed.The judge found fault with the AG taking objection to the vacation bench hearing the matter and said it is the discretion of the bench to hear a matter or not.
No word ‘Ban’ in order,informs AG
Advocate General S Sriram said there was no complete ban on public meetings and rallies and there was no such word ‘Ban’ in the entire GO. The AG said there were strong reasons that led to the issuance of the GO and referred to the stampede deaths in the events attended by TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu at Kandukur and Guntur