Telangana HC issues notice to ex-Siddipet collector P Venkata Rami Reddy who threatened ryots

Former Siddipet District Collector P Venkata Rami Reddy had threatened dealers against selling their wares to paddy farmers.
Former Siddipet collector P Venkata Rami Reddy
Former Siddipet collector P Venkata Rami Reddy

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to former Siddipet District Collector P Venkata Rami Reddy in a contempt of court case by directing him to respond to the notice within four weeks.

While hearing the plea, a division bench of the court comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice A Rajasekhar Reddy asked Advocate General (AG) BS Prasad as to whether the former IAS Officer had apologised.

The AG, replying to the Chief Justice, said, "The single judge was told that an unconditional apology would be placed before the judge, but the judge refused to accept such a contention." Prasad further informed the bench that an unconditional written apology would be placed before the court for making such demeaning remarks against the Supreme Court and the High Court. 

The bench was hearing a contempt case arising out of the writ petition filed by Bathula Narayana, an agriculturist from Siddipet, who was aggrieved by the action of the then Collector Venkata Rami Reddy. The latter, in a meeting with seed dealers and fertiliser shop owners, had threatened them to restrain from selling paddy seeds or fertilisers for paddy. 

The writ petition was heard by a single judge who directed the registry to place the plea before the Chief Justice's bench, and duly recommended initiation of contempt proceedings against Reddy. Reddy had openly said in a meeting that even if the seed dealers got an order from the High Court or the Supreme Court to reopen their shops, he would not adhere to such orders.

PIL against Chief Secretary withdrawn 

A PIL filed by J Shankar and another person challenging the action of the Telangana Chief Secretary in accepting the resignation of Venkata Rami Reddy from his post, and seeking directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and Legislative Council to reject Reddy's nomination for the post of MLC, was withdrawn, as it had become infructuous, since the process of elections has been completed.

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