Warangal: The nomination papers of TRS’s Mahbubabad Lok Sabha seat candidate Prof. A. Sitaram Naik was accepted by joint-collector and returning officer Pausumi Basu, overruling the objection raised by sitting MP Porika Balram Naik on Friday.
During scrutiny of the nomination papers, a decision on Prof. Sitaram Naik’s nomination was deferred when Mr Balram Naik objected to the former filing his nomination without resigning from his teaching job at the Kakatiya University.
However, senior HC advocate J. Ramachandra Rao, who was deputed by the TRS to sort out the issue, quoted precedents declared by the SC in six judgements while appearing before the RO on behalf of Prof. Sitaram Naik on Friday.
“A university is a separate entity. It is neither state controlled or Centrally controlled as the powers for both appointments and termination rests with the vice-chancellor,” explained Mr Ramachandra Rao, while citing the SC judgement in the Shatrucharla Vijayarama Raju case in 1992.
He also cited Article 191 of the Constitution, which disqualifies a MLA only if he holds an office of profit under the Government of India or the government of any state.
