Following an appeal made by the A P Sarpanches’ Association over the issue of contentious reservations in the ZPPs and MPPs, a Division Bench of the High Court has granted a ‘stay’ not to conduct the Local Body Elections. The stay was given over the quota system as detailed to the Court by the state government.
The Court also directed that the GO which stipulated the reservation system for the said ZPPs and MPPs be stalled.
With this, the much awaited elections to the Local Bodies have been put under wraps once again by the Ap Sarpanches Association who contended that the cited quota for candidates drawn from weaker sections exceeded the ceiling quota – 50 per cent – as fixed by the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, State Election Commissioner Ramakanth Reddy, who was approached by the media men at the Secretariat on Wednesday stated that the government announced quota details which was furnished to the state High Court became invalid.
Mr Ramakanth Reddy made it clear that the controversial elections would be held only after the government sent a revised list of details related to the reservations for the Local Bodies.
Even as the issue has been dragged to the Court by the Sarpanchaes Association, the N Kiran Kumar Reddy government is said to be engrossed in an ‘exercise’ that might save the skin of the ruling party. \
Pradesh Congress Committee president Botsa Satyanarayana was also here and held deliberations with the Chief Minister on the issue.
What transpired between them remained as a closed door affair.
Sources indicated that the government may opt for an Ordinance for appointment of Special Officers to the Local Body institutions to tide over the crisis for the present. Another section also signaled that the Court verdict came in handy for the N Kiran Kumar Reddy administration to have a free run till September.
The government in a way found a good alibi to turn the blame to the Court or the Sarpanchas Association to conveniently put off the cited polls.(INN)
2011/6/16 5:38:52 Information and Public Relation Minister D K Aruna on Thursday said that the government is willing to conduct the elections for Panchayat Raj institutions, contrary to reports stating that the stay on the polls by a Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court has given the ruling Congress a lifeline.
Talking to media persons after attending the Cabinet meeting at the Secretariat, Ms Aruna asserted that the government was willing to conduct the polls for the PR Institutions, in response to calls for clarifications on the High Court ruling.
Asked to clarify the government stand on the High Court’s recent ruling striking down GO 128 in respect of the quota for BCs, the Minister said that the government was in favour of PR elections in the light of Apex Court’s Order that the ceiling of 50 percent be observed.
Earlier, she made clear that the state Cabinet did not discuss on GO 128 at all. “The government is for polls at any time,” Ms Aruna said.
Meanwhile, official sources say that the government has another month’s time, till July 21, to arrive at a decision to go ahead with the said polls.(INN)
2008/4/16 8:25:03 Megastar Chiranjeevi is very happy and also relieved. He did not announce the launch of his political party on April 7 Ugadi. If he had done so, he would now had to face the prospect of the by polls on May 29.
Now Chiranjeevi literally gets a breather. He can take his own sweet little time to formulate the agenda and other issues related to his party. Chiranjeevi will also have the advantage of knowing in which way the wind is blowing once the results come out on June 1. For once, Chiranjeevi's extreme caution has worked out in his favour.
2011/12/14 8:35:41 TDP president Chandrababu Naidu who is troubled with High Court orders of CBI inquiry into his inappropriate assets case, at last had some relief with the latest orders given by High Court, in which it has stayed the inquiries initiated by CBI, Police and Enforcement Directorate departments. The court has stayed all the inquiries until further orders. Advocates representing Chandrababu, Ramoji Rao, Reliance Company have asked the court to terminate the orders issued by the same court, which were issued for inappropriate demand by their political rivals. They have argued that the cases filed against their clients were political motivated. Hence, they have suggested the court that it shouldn’t allow or become a battle ground for political wars.
2012/3/9 21:50:01 The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday appealed to the CBI Special Court to direct the Centre to sanction permission for prosecution of senior IAS officers - L V Subrahmanyam and B P Acharya, both accused in the APIIC-Emaar scam.
However, the court rejected the probing agency’s plea stating that there was no provision in law to issue such directions to the Centre. Earlier, the court directed the CBI to take prior permission from the Centre to prosecute the accused IAS officers. The court also asked the CBI how it could accept the charge-sheet without sanction from the government.
The CBI said that it had written a letter to the Centre seeking permission to prosecute the tainted IAS officers. The CBI counsel appealed to the court to extend remand of BP Acharya and Koneru Prasad.
After hearing the arguments of CBI counsel, the special court extended the remand of BP Acharya and Koneru Prasad to March 16. (INN)
The entire country is bracing up for the verdict of the Allahabad High court on the contentious Babri masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi issue. The government has made elaborate security arrangements across the country ahead of the HC verdict.
The High Court was to deliver its verdict on 24 September. However the Supreme Court has put a temporary stay on the verdict by a week.
The apex court acted on a petition field in this regard and posted it to September 28.
The kar sevaks had brought down the Babri masjid 18 years ago i.e. on December 6 1992.
2011/4/25 3:44:47 The high court has stayed on the single judgment in which the judge asks the Government to make public about the contents of 8th chapter submitted by Justice Sri Krishna Committee. The court asked the Government to submit the 8th chapter documents to it in a sealed cover before ten days.
The just concluded by polls were by far the most interesting and bitterly contested by polls ever in the state. It is none other than the big separate Telangana issue that was the main reason behind the by polls. For KCR, these polls are a do or die battle. The future of KCR as well as that of the TRS hinges on the results of the by polls.
The exit polls have not exactly pleased KCR. Even the pre-poll surveys reported that the TRS was sure to lose some seats.
According to the exit poll results, the TRS may retain about 10 assembly seats from the 16 that it held before the by polls. Out of the four Lok Sabha seats, the TRS is ahead in two and neck and neck in the third seat. So here also, the TRS is set to lose one or two seats.
The ruling congress is expected to bag anywhere between three and four assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat. Even the TDP is expected to romp home with two or three assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat.
The counting will begin at 8.00 a.m. on Sunday and the results will be out in about two hours time, i.e.by 10.00 a.m. Till then the guessing game continues and the leaders are all tensed up.
2011/12/24 9:10:11 Bollywood hot beauty Vidya Balan narrowly escaped police arrest with High Court granting a timely stay on her arrest. A criminal case has been filed against her by Nallakunta Police upon the directions of Nampally court.
A advocate named SK Azad has filed a petition against Vidya Balan in Nampally court an for her vulgar performance in her latest movie ‘Dirty Picture’ which is based upon veteran Tollywood actress late Silk Smitha. The court has ordered the police to file a criminal case against her. However, Vidya Balan represented by her lawyer has approached High court seeking stay on her arrest. Her lawyer argues that, the film is a collective product of several people and hence his client shouldn’t be made accountable for the obscene in the movie. The court has granted a stay on her arrest.
Govt pins hopes on HC to show way on LB polls conundrum
2011/6/13 4:46:57 The state government is keeping its fingers crossed as it waits for a ruling by the Andhra Pradesh High Court in connection with the much awaited Panchayat Raj elections, expected to be delivered on Tuesday.
The High Court ruling will facilitate the N Kiran Kumar Reddy government to decide further whether to dispense with a proposed Ordinance or conduct fresh elections to the PR Institutions.
Earlier, the State Sarpanchs’ Union approached the Court for directing the government not to cross the 50 percent reservations as per the ruling of the Supreme Court.
Admitting their writ petition, the Court directed the State Election Commissioner to submit details of the quota before it.
In the light of the Sarpanchs’ Writ petition and the High Court’s direction to the State Election Commission, the much awaited ‘Ordinance’ to appoint Special Officers for the Panchayat Raj Institutions has currently been diverted to a loop line, according to government sources.
The appointment of Special Officers to the Mandal and Zilla Praja Parishads assumed importance as the term of the elected pr bodies would come to an end in July and August respectively.
In case the elections to the said PR Institutions are delayed, there is a need to have special officers. The said draft of the Ordinance was sent for Governor's approval on Friday.
In the absence of the elected Panchayat Raj Bodies, the state would not be eligible to draw Central funds for MPPs and ZPPs and developmental works will take a back seat again.
Both the exercises – Reservations’ notification to Panchayat Raj Bodies and the ‘Ordinance’ for amending provisions in Panchayat Raj Act for appointing Special Officers, are contradictory to each other.
The promulgation of the cited ‘Ordinance’ after the notification of elections results in violation of Code of Conduct.
But official sources are of the opinion that the state is within its limitations to maintain status quo as the rules under the Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 had so far not been questioned by any Court.(INN)
2012/5/6 1:58:24 Ongole, May 6 (INN): Bharatiya Janata Party national secretary Dr K Laxman on Sunday predicted the fall of Kiran Kumar Reddy Government after the by-elections.
Talking to reporters here, Dr Laxman said that the State administration was in bad shape in the State and it would deteriorate further after the announcement of by-elections' results. He said the misadministration and political uncertainty would lead to the collapse of Kiran Kumar Reddy Government after the by-polls.
The BJP leader also alleged that thousands of acres of land belonging to farmers was alienated to the private companies by the successive governments. He said former chief ministers YS Rajasekhara Reddy and N Chandrababu Naidu were two sides of the same fabric and both of them indulged in irregularities to favour private companies. The Comptroller General of India in its recent report has revealed that about 88,000 acres of lands has been alienated to the private companies in violation of the rules, he said.
Dr Laxman announced that the BJP would contest from a majority of 18 assembly seats where by-elections would be held on June 12. While expressing confidence of winning the elections, he said the by-polls would also help the party to guage the sentiments related to separate Telangana and united Andhra Pradesh.
2007/12/8 3:32:30 Power star Pawan Kalyan can celebrate New Year on a happy note. The case filed by his first wife will not be decided in a hurry. The lawyers representing Nandini asked for more time to file their reply and hence the court has postponed the hearing to January 4. This gives Pawan a breather and he can go ahead and celebrate the New Year happily. And Allu Aravind will also finish his film Jalsa by that time.
Fardeen Khan surely must have felt relieved after judge P.N.Deshmukh of a special sessions court said that the actor would be facing charges only for attempting to buy 1 gm of cocaine, which comes under the category of ‘small quantity’. So, even if he is found guilty he stands to spend only a maximum of six months in jail.
The case dates back to the year 2001 when the actor was caught with 9gms of cocaine in Mumbai’s suburb Juhu. Fardeen was then booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and sent to custody. He however, was granted bail later and the case has been awaiting trial in the sessions court ever since.
In the recent chain of events, it appears that the actor has appealed that he was merely attempting to buy 1 gm of cocaine and hence be discharged from criminal prosecution. His plea for complete discharge has been rejected and the actor will still have to stand trial for whatever ‘small’ charge on the next session scheduled for Feb 8. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) doesn’t seem too pleased with this concession given to the actor and said that it will appeal against the sessions court order in the High Court.
2008/4/16 8:05:13 The election commission has finally drawn up the schedule for the by polls to the seats vacated by the TRS and for Khairatabad where the vacancy has been caused by the untimely death of PJR. The polls will be held on May 29. The nomination process will commence from March 2. The results will be announced on June 1.
So it is going to be a 'really hot' summer this year. The congress party and the TDP have only something to gain but nothing much to lose. The polls are an acid test for KCR as the onus of getting all the MLAs and MPs who resigned recently elected once again rests on him. There is a strong resistance to some of the candidates from within the party.
The state government on Monday decided to opt for the safest way out after being caught in a flux over the question of providing reservations for the Backward Classes in the coming Local Body elections by retaining the existing 34 per cent quota for BC candidates.
The decision to retain the existing 34 per cent quota was taken after a Group of Ministers, comprising of Panchayat Raj Minister K Jana Reddy, Social Welfare Minister Pithani Satyanarayana, and Backward Classes Welfare Minister Basavaraju Saraiah met at the Secretariat to discuss the contentious issue.
The Minister discussed the ‘issue’ threadbare and decided in favour of conducting the cited PR elections, retaining the 34 per cent reservations to the Backward Classes candidates.
Mr Jana Reddy, who briefed the media persons in his chambers later, said that the said quota for BCs would be retained no matter whether 34 per cent quota inclusion would exceed the Apex Court’s ceiling.
Asked whether the Apex Court ruling which specified 50 per cent quota in the local body elections would be jumped, the Minister clarified “We will look into it later.”
Replying to another question, Mr Jana Reddy stated that that the elections will go ahead as schedule.
Govt hints at rethink on Ordinance, resorts to double speak on PR polls
2011/6/10 9:38:48 Caught in a quandary whether or not to postpone the elections to the Panchayat Raj Institutions, the state government is resorting to double-speak, as evident from the conflicting statements made by Revenue Minister N Raghuveera Reddy on the issue.
Mr Raghuveera Reddy had categorically stated on Thursday that he was one of the signatories to the draft for approval of an Ordinance which was to be cleared by Governor ESL Narasimhan, but he hinted that the government was having a rethink on the issue on Friday by saying that the elections should be held as scheduled and immediately.
The government’s double speak is evident from its expressed desire to go in for the Ordinance to appoint special officers to the Mandal and Zilla Parishads as there was no sufficient time to notify the Backward Classes Quota' and in the second place, the statement made by the Revenue Minister today.
A minimum of six weeks is required for the process and also inform the Election Commission about the Backward Classes’ Population enumeration which is said to be nearing completion.
Mr Raghuveera Reddy told media persons at the Secretariat on Friday that the said elections should be held as scheduled and immediately.
He went on to clarify that the government was no in mood to inconvenience the BCs (on quota status ) while holding the elections. “Therefore the emphasis is on to hold the elections keeping in view their quota as per the directive of the Supreme Court which mandated the government not to exceed the ceiling of 50 per cent” the Minister said.
The term of Mandal Praja Parishads and Zilla Praja Parishads would come to an end on July 22 and 23 respectively, and the term of the Sarpanches would come to an end in August. The government was expected to notify the BC quota on June 11, which is the deadline set by the Election Commission.
According to sources, the government is wary of conducting the elections as scheduled because of a threat from YSR Congress Party president YS Jaganmohan Reddy, who might organize a repeat of Kadapa by-polls results in the Panchayat Raj polls too.
2011/8/30 5:11:07 Madras High Court today has issued an interim order giving stay on the death sentence given to the 3 assassins of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, which is scheduled for 9th of September. The court has served notices to Central Government to explain within 8 weeks why it took 11 years to take a decision on mercy petition submitted to it on 26th April in year 2000.
Tamilnadu Assembly has also passed a unanimous resolution asking the Center to grant clemency to the three assassins as they have spent 11 years in the jail waiting for the President’s decision on their mercy petitions.
This action of High Court which is a new tradition may paves way for terrorists like Afjal Guru, Ajmal Kasab and many others to apply the same yard stick when they also reach that situation. More over, the High Court’s decision to give stay on the Supreme Court orders and obstructing the Presidential orders may lead to a constitutional crisis.
2012/5/17 8:32:46 Hyderabad, May 17 (INN): The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday issued interim orders staying the GO 2097 issued on May 9 withholding the release of advertisements and notification from all government departments and agencies to Jagati Publications, publisher of Sakshi newspaper and Indira TV, owner of Sakshi TV.
Taking a serious note on the orders, the court while staying the GO directed the state government to file its counter petition by June 16. The court also kept the GO withholding advertisements and notification under suspension till the government files its counter petition. The court opined that the government order violates Article 14 of the Constitution. The court observed that how the government could stop advertisements to the newspaper without hearing the case.
Earlier, the petitioners contended that the action of the government was illegal and in violation of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution.
They said that Jagati Publication is facing a probe for allegedly securing investments from various individuals and companies as a measure of quid pro quo for the favours allegedly made by the YSR government from 2004 to 2009.
The petitioners pointed out that no allegations were framed against Jagati Publications as a corporate entity. The court also adjourned the hearing on CBI seizing of bank accounts of Sakshi to May 22.
The court while adjourning the hearing directed the CBI to file its counter petition why it has freezed bank accounts of Sakshi.
2011/12/13 16:24:34 The State High Court on Tuesday stayed the execution of the November 14th order for preliminary probe by the CBI on assets of Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu and 13 others.
While issuing the interim orders, the bench comprising of Justice Rohini and Ashutosh Mahanta directed the CBI, ED and other agencies to stop their investigations against Naidu and others listed in the public interest litigation of Pulivendula MLA YS Vijayamma and adjourned the hearing on the petition to Wednesday.
D Srinivas, the advocate for respondents, said the court given an interim stay on the probe after thorough scrutiny of all the documentation and reports submitted by the petitioners. The counsel maintained that the preliminary enquiry was against the principles of natural justice.
The counsel wondered how the enquiry was ordered without giving notices to respondents in the cases and appealed to court to hold the probe.
Meanwhile, Vijayamma's counsel had raised objections against the bench of Justice Rohini also in the Supreme Court and requested for shifting of the hearing of her petition to any court outside Andhra Pradesh. She had already raised objections against the bench of Justice Eswaraiah which led to shifting of the case to the bench of Justice Rohini. (INN)
The crucial by polls in Kadapa and Pulivendula will be held tomorrow. The situation in Kadapa is tense and the election commission has pressed into service a large number of police personnel in all the places in the two constituencies.
DGP Aravinda Rao stated that all arrangements are in place to conduct polls in a free and fair manner. Additional police forces are being brought in from Tamil Nadu and Kerala to be deployed in Kadapa.
TRS chief K Chandra Shekar Rao claims that the state will go to elections early next year. KCR predicted that there world be snap polls to the state assembly in March 2008. Elections are due only in 2009 but even some congressmen do not rule out advancement of polls in the state.
TDP president Chandrababu Naidu who is troubled with High Court orders of CBI inquiry into his inappropriate assets case, at last had some relief with the latest orders given by High Court, in which it has stayed the inquiries initiated by CBI, Police and Enforcement Directorate departments. The court has stayed all the inquiries until further orders. Advocates representing Chandrababu, Ramoji Rao, Reliance Company have asked the court to terminate the orders issued by the same court, which were issued for inappropriate demand by their political rivals. They have argued that the cases filed against their clients were political motivated. Hence, they have suggested the court that it shouldn’t allow or become a battle ground for political wars.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday appealed to the CBI Special Court to direct the Centre to sanction permission for prosecution of senior IAS officers - L V Subrahmanyam and B P Acharya, both accused in the APIIC-Emaar scam.
The high court has stayed on the single judgment in which the judge asks the Government to make public about the contents of 8th chapter submitted by Justice Sri Krishna Committee. The court asked the Government to submit the 8th chapter documents to it in a sealed cover before ten days.
Bollywood hot beauty Vidya Balan narrowly escaped police arrest with High Court granting a timely stay on her arrest. A criminal case has been filed against her by Nallakunta Police upon the directions of Nampally court.
Madras High Court today has issued an interim order giving stay on the death sentence given to the 3 assassins of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, which is scheduled for 9th of September. The court has served notices to Central Government to explain within 8 weeks why it took 11 years to take a decision on mercy petition submitted to it on 26th April in year 2000. 
