HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday issued notices to the Centre, Telangana government and MP Gutha Sukender Reddy for filing counter affidavits in a PIL filed challenging the appointment of MP Gutha as chairman of Telangana Rashtra Rythu Samanvaya Samithi (state farmers coordination committee).
The bench of Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice K Vijaya Lakshmi was dealing with a PIL filed by G Madhusudhan Reddy, advocate and BJP Kisan Morcha president, complaining that MP Gutha has accepted the post of Samithi chairman which was an office of profit, without resigning from the membership of the Parliament. Petitioner’s counsel B Rachna Reddy told the court that Gutha had won the MP seat from Nalgonda on Congress party ticket, but had later joined the ruling TRS party when offered the above chairman post. Still he has not resigned to the MP post, but continuing in the chairman post which falls under office of profit which was against the order of Supreme Court, she pointed out and urged the court to declare the government’s decision, vide GO 179 dated March 8, 2018, as unconstitutional, and to declare Gutha Sukender Reddy as ineligible to hold the MP post.
After hearing the case, the bench issued notices to the secretary of Parliamentary affairs,Telangana state chief secretary, principal secretaries to agriculture, panchayat raj and finance, managing director of Rythu Samanvaya Samithi and MP Gutha Sukender Reddy for filing counter affidavits, and posted the matter after summer vacation for further hearing.