HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday issued contempt notices to Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumar, Principal Secretary (Social Welfare) N Sridhar, and Women & Child Development Secretary Anitha Ramachandran on a plea filed by activist Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli.
A Division Bench led by Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh was hearing the case under the Contempt of Courts Act and Article 215 of the Constitution.
The petitioner alleged willful violation of the Court’s July 6, 2023 order in a batch of PILs filed by transgender persons.
In that landmark ruling, the HC struck down the Telangana Eunuchs Act, 1329 Fasli (1919). The Act mandated a register of eunuchs and criminalised transgender persons for dressing in female attire, singing, dancing, or being in the company of boys under 16.
The Court had also directed the state to extend Aasara pensions to transgender persons, provide reservations in education and public employment, and include the Telangana State Legal Services Authority’s Member Secretary as a permanent member of the Transgender Welfare Board to monitor compliance.
Claiming that these directions remain unimplemented, the petitioner sought contempt proceedings. The Bench issued notices returnable within four weeks.
Submit APP enlisting notification, TG told
A bench of the Telangana High Court led by Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Sing on Tuesday granted one week to the state to place on record the notification issued for filling 118 posts of additional public prosecutors (APP).
The bench was hearing a PIL filed by Boddupelli Srinivasulu, seeking a direction declaring the inaction of the authorities in notifying vacancies and filling posts of additional and assistant public prosecutors as illegal and arbitrary.
He urged the court to direct the government to act on his representation dated July 17, 2024, and issue the recruitment notification. During the hearing, the Assistant Government Pleader for Law and Legislative Affairs informed the court that the process was underway.