Hyderabad: A division bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar of the Hyderabad High Court on Monday stayed the decision of the Telangana government for re-registration of vehicles for replacing the existing letters (AP) on the number plates with TS (Telangana state).
The bench was dealing with a plea by Rammohan Chowdary, a resident of the city challenging a GO issued by the government on July 17 asking all vehicle owners to change their number plates from AP to TS through re-registration.
A. Sanjeev Kumar, the special government counsel for Telangana, submitted that the government has powers to make rules under Section 65 of the Motor Vehicles Act.
The bench made it clear that rules made under the Section should be in consonance with the larger scheme of the Constitution and the current GO does not pass that test and hen-ce the state cannot ask vehicle owners to go for re-registration.
Justice Sengupta said, “We can understand if you insist on such a rule for registering new vehicles from June 2, on which date the Telangana state come into existence, but not prior to that. You cannot change old vehicles once a valid registration is done.”
Expressing dismay, the CJ asked the state counsel to delete the term re-registration.
Justice Sengupta pointed out, “Governments should be people friendly. People means not Telangana people alone. Whoever comes and lives here are all the people of this state. You will not be permitted to do things that are not permitted by law.”
The bench directed the government not to enforce the proposed rules. Even if they are finalised it should not be implemented without the permission of the court, the judge said.
Determine FTL of lakes, TS told
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar directed the Telangana state government to determine the Full Tank Level of all lakes across the state and to ensure the eviction all illegal encroachments within the FTL. The bench was dealing with a PIL by Save Our Urban Lakes, a social work organisation represented by Satish Kumar of the city seeking a direction to declare the action of authorities allowing construction by certain private individuals in lands falling within the full tank level area of Kapra Lake as illegal.
Info on medical facilities sought
A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court asked the government to inform by Wednesday about the availability of doctor and ambulance at the Cherlapally Central Prison by Wednesday.
The bench was admitting a plea by Slauddin Ayub, who is an accused in the Parkwood International School child abuse case, alleging that the jail did not have sufficient medical staff and ambulance.
