Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday issued notices to the Telangana government and the State Election Commission seeking their stand on a PIL challenging the amendments made to the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act 2018, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act 1955, the Telangana Municipalities Act 1965 and the Telangana Municipal Corporation Act 1994.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice V. Ramasubramanian was dealing with the PIL by Forum for Good Governance an NGO represented by its secretary Mr M. Padmanabha Reddy questioning Section 1976 of Act 2018 Section 106 of Act 1965 Section 11 2 of Act 1994 and Section 106 of GHMC Act 1955. Counsel for the petitioner B. Rachna Reddy submitted that with the amendments, the SEC has to necessarily obtain concurrence from the state to conduct the elections, thereby depriving the independence guaranteed to the SEC under Articles 243K and 243ZA of the Constitution. The bench posted the case for two weeks.
