Man fined 10,000 in petition against CM ` HC ADJOURNS PIL ON DHARMANA

A Division Bench comprising acting Chief justice N.V. Ramana and Justice Vilas V. Afzulpurkar of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday dismissed a writ of quo warranto against Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and imposed a penalty of `10,000 on the petitioner.

Venkata Ramana, a resident of Chittoor district, moved the plea seeking it to issue the writ and declare the appointment of Kiran Kumar Reddy as the Chief Minister on November 25, 2010 as illegal. The petitioner contended that the CM was not elected as leader of the Congress Legislature Party prior to his appointment as CM and nomination by Congress president Sonia Gandhi cannot be treated as if the CLP had elected him as its leader.

While dismissing the plea, Justice Ramana found fault with petitioner for filing frivolous petition. The judge observed that the contentions of the petitioner were not in the public interest, but appeared to be a exercise in getting publicity.

The Bench directed the petitioner to pay the costs to the AP Legal Services Authority. A Division Bench comprising Justice G. Rohini and Justice P. Naveen Rao of the AP High Court on Tuesday were not inclined to issue notice to Dharmana Prasad Rao, roads and buildings minister in a PIL challenging the action of the state government in continuing him as a minister in the Cabinet despite the CBI charging him in the illegal investments case of Kadapa MP Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

O.M. Debara, a retired employee, moved the PIL contending that the action of the government was contrary to the doctrine of public trust, good governance and in violation of Article 14, 21, 164 of the Constitution.

Counsel for the petitioner urged the court issue notice to the unofficial respondent, i.e. minister directing him to file counter affidavit on the plea.

Justice Rohini refused to oblige and told the advocate-general that the case will be heard after the summer vacation and in the meanwhile get instructions from the state government on the plea. bunal struck down the notification and the APPSC moved the High Court. It was submitted that the CDPO posts were meant for women and in the year 2000 also all the posts were filled with women. While permitting the test, the judge made it clear that the results could not be declared and the appointments finalised till further orders.