Telangana High Court Hears Defection Case Against Three BRS MLAs
The Telangana High Court’s division bench, led by Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Sreenivas Rao, reviewed three writ appeals on Tuesday. These appeals were filed by Dr. V Narasimha Charyulu, the Secretary of the State Legislature. The appeals challenged an earlier order regarding the defection of three BRS MLAs into the Congress party. The court has reserved its decision, which is expected to be announced in a few days.
Earlier, the CJ bench issued notices to several parties, including the Principal Secretary of the Law department, the Assembly Speaker, the Election Commission, and the three MLAs in question—Tellam Venkat Rao, Kadiam Srihari, and Danam Nagender.
The court also allowed the State Advocate-General to approach it if any urgent actions are taken by the single judge before October 24.
Single Judge’s Order to Expedite Disqualification Process
Previously, on September 9, Justice Bollam Vijaysen Reddy, a single judge, ordered the Assembly Secretary to present the disqualification petitions of the three MLAs to the Speaker. The petitions had been pending, and the judge directed that a schedule for hearings be set within four weeks. Additionally, the Secretary was instructed to inform the court about this schedule, or the court would reopen the writs and issue further orders if no updates were received within the given time frame.
In his appeals, Dr. Narasimha Charyulu sought to suspend the single judge’s order. He argued that the BRS MLAs, who had filed the writs, made baseless allegations against the Speaker, assuming that the Speaker would not act on the disqualification petitions.
High Court Stays Investigation Against ‘Namaste Telangana’ Chairman and Editor
In a separate case, Justice Kunuru Lakshman granted major relief to D Damodar Rao, the Chairman and Managing Director of ‘Namaste Telangana,’ and T Krishna Murthy, the editor. The court ordered a stay on the investigation into an FIR registered at the Meerpet police station.
The FIR, filed on November 1, 2024, included various charges under the new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. The judge also instructed the police not to arrest the petitioners and issued notices to the State.
Details of the FIR and Court's Inquiry
The FIR was based on a complaint by the Balapur tahsildar, who stated that the newspaper had published a report about assigned lands meant for SCs and STs being sold, violating the Telangana Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act, 1977.
During the hearing, Justice Lakshman questioned how the police registered the case without solid evidence. Banda Shivananda Prasad, the petitioners’ lawyer, argued that the charges mentioned in the FIR, including cheating and forgery, were not supported by any facts. The State’s counter-affidavit also did not provide evidence of these offenses.
The court scheduled the next hearing for December 5.
