HYDERABAD: Expressing dismay over the government’s failure to hold local body elections in Bhadrachalam, the Telangana High Court on Thursday said it was giving ‘one last chance to the State to do the right thing’.
If the government did not act by November 25, the court would summon the Chief Secretary and adjourn the matter to November 26, 2022, said a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice CV Bhaskar Reddy.
Notably, Bhadrachalam was a Gram Panchayat in an agency area. In 2005, the undivided State of Andhra Pradesh issued a directive to include it in the Municipalities Act. This was contested by one Yasam Raju, and the GO’s operation was halted. Special Officers have governed Bharachalam since August 2018. It is currently neither a Gram Panchayat nor a municipality.
Finally, the Panchayat elections were held in Bhadrachalam in 2013, and the Panchayat’s term ran till 2018. While elections for all Panchayats were held in December 2018, Bhadrachalam and four others were omitted.
The government has filed a counterclaim, stating that it will remove the four Gram Panchayats from the list of municipalities and return them to the Panchayats. This, however, has been mentioned since June 2022. As though the government has not yet submitted a notification.