Electricity bills: Notices issued to TS govt, others
A division bench of the High Court on Monday issued notices to Telangana government and its Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSSPDCL) and the State Electricity Regulatory Commission to respond to batch of PILs filed against exorbitant electricity bills charged for the last three months - March, April and May, and for seeking waiver of such power bills generated during the lockdown period.
The bench comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy passed this order through video conferencing in batch PILs filed with a plea not to take any coercive steps against the consumers, who are unable to pay the bulk bills generated by the TSSPDCL in time, and to rectify bills which were generated without taking into consideration of the power tariff slab system. The petitioners also sought directions to the authorities concerned not to charge any interest on late payment or payment in installments for the bills.
During the course of hearing, State Advocate General BS Prasad told the court that the government has constituted a committee - Electricity Consumer Grievance Redressal Committee, for resolving grievances of the consumers. So far, the committee has received about 6,767 complaints, and out of them 6,678 complaints have been resolved and the remaining would be resolved in another few days, he added. After hearing submissions of the AG, the bench said consumers should be allowed to approach the committee for resolving their grievances regarding the said exorbitant electricity bills. The bench directed the State government to ensure that wide publicity is given about the redressal committee.
Centre asked to respond on Islamophobic posts
A division bench of Telangana High Court on Monday issued notices to the Central Government, Telangana DGP and the Twitter for filing counter affidavits in the PIL filed seeking removal of Islamophobic posts trending on Twitter, alleging attachment of Islam to the Covid pandemic.
The bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy was dealing with PIL filed by advocate Khaja Aijazuddin seeking direction to Twitter to stop the illegal trending under the name ‘Islamiccoronavirusjihad, Coronajihad, Tablighijamat’ and so on.
According to the petitioner advocate, attaching the pandemic to a particularly community have hurt the feelings of the community people and insulted the religion, and, it might disturb the communal harmony of the country.
As per the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines dated March 18, it clearly stipulates that attaching the religion with the pandemic is not at all permissible, and despite that trend continues on Twitter. It is not only offensive but warranting the authorities concerned to intervene by taking criminal action against Twitter and its users who are spreading hatred messages. The bench posted the matter to July 20 for further hearing.
Migrant case: Railway official called to explain
Expressing its anger at South Central Railways for not attaching an extra bogie to the Hyderabad-Patna train for stranded migrant workers, a division bench of Telangana High Court on Monday directed the Divisional Railway Manager to appear before it on Tuesday for explanation.
The bench passed this order through video conferencing in batch PILs filed seeking direction to Telangana government to shift nearly 1.5 lakh labourers working in about 810 registered brick kilns spread across the State and another PIL against the action of the police in forcibly transporting migrants from various States from the city to Telangana-Maharashtra border at Bhoraj check-post in Adilabad. Petitioners’ counsel Vasudha Nagaraj told the court that the SCR is not taking the initiative to transport the 45 stranded migrant workers to Bihar.
After hearing the contentions of the petitioners’ counsel, the bench said “What prevented the SCR to add an extra bogie to the train bound for Bihar. It doesn’t cost much for adding an extra bogie to the train. When a goods train can be run with 72 bogies, why can’t the railways attach one extra bogie to the existing 24 bogies?”
Congress leaders’ arrest case: Police files affidavit
The Telangana government on Monday told the High Court that it has taken some political leaders into preventive custody as there was a possibility of them holding public gatherings in violation of Covid-19 guidelines.
The Telangana government represented by Additional Director General of Police (legal) Rajiv Ratan, filed counter affidavit before Justice T Vinod Kumar dealing with the petition filed by TPCC, represented by its president and Nalgonda MP Uttam Kumar Reddy, and 11 other leaders alleging curtailment of their rights to travel freely and attend to their works as public representatives, despite following all the guidelines imposed by the Centre in view of the pandemic.
Rajiv Ratan, in the counter, submitted that there is no truth in the petitioners’ allegations. In fact, they have given a call for mass gatherings in furtherance of their criticism against the government’s programmes. Any activity detrimental to the health and safety of general public cannot be overlooked by the police, he added.
When the petitioners’ counsel B Rachna Reddy sought some time to respond to the counter affidavit, the judge posted the matter to June 26 for further hearing.