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Telangana HC stays swearing-in of MLCs picked by guv on govt’s advice
The stay was put on recommendations of the Congress government led by chief minister A Revanth Reddy
Hyderabad The Telangana high court on Tuesday stayed the swearing-in of two members of state legislative council (MLCs), who were appointed by state governor Tamilisai Soundararajan under governor’s quota, as per the recommendations of the Congress government led by chief minister A Revanth Reddy last week, people familiar with the matter said.
A division bench of the high court comprising chief justice Alok Aradhe and justice Anil Kumar Jukanti ordered status quo in the matter. It posted the matter to February 8 for further hearing.
The bench was hearing a petition filed by two Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders — Dasoju Sravan and K Satyanarayana, who were nominated as MLCs by the previous BRS government under governor’s quota, but their nominations were rejected by the governor.
The newly nominated MLCs — retired Osmania University professor M Kodandaram and senior Urdu journalist Amer Ali Khan — are supposed to take oath in the chambers of state legislative council chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy on Wednesday.
In August last year, the BRS government led by then chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao recommended the names of Sravan and Satyanarayana for the MLC posts under governor’s quota. However, after sitting over the file for over a month, Tamilisai sent back the file in September, rejecting the nominations on the ground that they have political and corporate affiliations.
The two BRS leaders moved the high court in December, questioning the governor’s decision to reject their nominations for the MLC posts. The high court which heard their petitions, ordered a status quo and directed that the government and the governor come up with a gentleman’s agreement.
Meanwhile, the new Congress government on January 25 recommended the names of Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan and the governor issued another notification nominating them as MLCs under governor’s quota.
Sravan and Satyanarayana on Monday filed interlocutory applications praying to suspend the notification and also implement the subsequent nominees. They contended that despite the orders of the high court to maintain the status quo based on a gentleman’s agreement, the governor nominated new candidates to fill up the post as MLCs.
The governor’s counsel argued that the new government rescinded the earlier order and made fresh recommendations.
After hearing the arguments from both sides, the high court said it would take up the case on February 8 and ordered status quo. It directed the legislative council chairman not to administer the oath to Kodandaram and Khan till further orders.
