Hyderabad HC notice to Telangana govt on K Chandrasekhar Rao's gold offerings

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday issued notices to the TS government on a PIL seeking to declare as illegal Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao using public money to fulfil his personal vows.

A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice Shameem Akhter, while admitting the PIL by social activists Kancha Ilaiah and G. Ramulu, asked the Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary to Endowments department to file counter affidavits giving details of the offering made by the state government.

The petitioners brought to the notice of the court that the Endowments department of the state has issued two GOs on February 24, 2017, releasing about Rs 5 crore for the offerings from the Common Good Fund.

A. Satya Prasad, senior counsel appearing for the petitioners, contended that the CM cannot use the CGF funds for his personal vows and it was against the Constitution and also contrary to the principle of a secular state.

When the bench sought to know about the CGF, counsel explained that the Fund is meant to meet salaries of Archaks and expenses of daily prayers of temples.

The bench adjourned the case for four weeks after directing the respondents to file their affidavits.