HC rejects TS interim plea in poachgate case

Hyderabad/New Delhi: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday rejected the plea of the state government for a hearing by a single judge on its interim application on December 26 seeking stay on the transfer of the probe into the alleged BRS MLAs poaching case from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Wednesday stated that it will hear on February 17 the Telangana state government’s plea against the Telangana High Court’s December 26 order on the issue.  In the High Court, Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan rejected the Telangana state government’s plea requesting to accord permission to Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy to hear the interim application.

When advocate general (AG) B.S. Prasad appealed for a hearing on the interim application on Wednesday, Chief Justice Bhuyan observed, “Single Judge has passed orders on 26-12-2022 and against that order, the state government preferred appeals before the division bench and this court dismissed all appeals as not maintainable on 6-2-2023. The order passed by the division bench is final and the single judge cannot invoke his jurisdiction and again hear any plea in this case.”

The AG tried to convince the High Court by asserting that the division bench had dismissed the appeals based solely on jurisdiction and not on the merits. He also noted that the Supreme Court will soon hear an SLP that was sent there. The government argued that it shouldn’t be permitted to enforce decisions made by both a division bench and a single judge.

Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud of the Supreme Court observed that the matter will be listed on February 17 after senior advocate Sidharth Luthra requested an early date of February 13 for the listing. The court turned down the plea. However, Luthra urged the court to maintain the status quo while the Telangana government's appeal of the December 26 High Court ruling is being heard by the Supreme Court. He contended that the CBI will take charge of the case by the time the SC hears the case. The CJI refused to enact any status quo orders. On February 7, the Telangana state government pleaded with the Supreme Court to hold an urgent hearing on its appeal against the HC's order for a CBI investigation into alleged attempts to oust Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs.