HYDERABAD: Justice Laxmi Narayana Alishetty of the Telangana High Court has directed the collector and district magistrate of the Medchal Malkajgiri district to dispose of a representation submitted by three corporators of the Peerzadiguda Municipal Corporation before the no-confidence motion taken up against the Mayor is taken up on June 5.
In their writ petition, Kethavath Subash and two other corporators urged the court to declare the failure of the collector of not addressing their grievances outlined in their representation dated May 7 as illegal and arbitrary. The petitioners claimed their signatures were obtained under coercion through misleading and misrepresenting facts. They argued that the notice issued on May 18 to conduct the no-confidence meeting on June 5, 2024, was violative of Article 14 of the Constitution and against the principles of natural justice.
Senior counsel KS Murthy, representing the petitioners, informed the court that Jakka Venkat Reddy, elected from the 1st division, became the Mayor. On May 6, 2024, a few corporators wrote to the collector to move a no-confidence motion against Venkat Reddy. Following this, the petitioners’ too wrote to the collector expressing their objection. However, their representation was not considered.
“Despite the representation, the collector issued a Form-II notice on May 18, indicating that the no-confidence motion would proceed as scheduled on June 5,” senior counsel said.
The petitioners argued that this was arbitrary and requested the court to prevent the no-confidence meeting from proceeding without addressing their representation.
In response, the government pleader for Municipal Administration and Urban Development department, along with the standing counsel for the district collector and Peerzadiguda Municipal Corporation, submitted that if the petitioners’ representation was still pending, the district collector could be directed to dispose of it.
Considering the submissions, the High Court, without expressing any opinion on the merit of the case, directed the collector to consider and dispose of the petitioners’ representation before June 5, 2024. The collector must pass appropriate orders in accordance with the law and communicate the same to the petitioners, the judge ordered.