APHC sentences two officials to jail, 11 FIRs registered against MP Raghurama in AP
VIJAYAWADA: The AP High Court has sentenced two Zilla Panchayat officials to jail in a contempt of court case on Thursday and gave a week’s time for them to file an appeal.
It was alleged that the then Kurnool district DPO suspended the check power of a sarpanch despite the stay granted by the High Court and made the payments through the EORD. Over this, the court registered a case of contempt of court suo motu.
The court sentenced Prabhakar Rao, who previously worked as DPO of Kurnool district and was currently in Anantapur, to a week's imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2,000. Chittoor District Panchayat officer Dasaradha Rami Reddy was sentenced to 15 days in jail and a fine of Rs 2,000.
The execution of the verdict was stayed for a week, giving chance to the two to file appeals.
In another case, the HC heard a petition filed by Telugu Desam national spokesperson G.V. Reddy seeking appointment of a Finance Commission. In the past, the government had promised to appoint a finance commission within three months. But, after three months, the commission was not appointed.
The petitioner's lawyer Umesh Chandra brought to the attention of the court that the government had promised to appoint a finance commission within three months in connection with the investigation but this did not happen even after three months.
The bench questioned the government on this. Counsel for the government told the court that the file regarding the appointment of the finance commission was under consideration of the Governor and the finance commission would be appointed as soon as the approval is received from the Governor.
The High Court said, “We are giving 4 weeks’ time. Within this time, the commission should be appointed.” The next hearing would be in February.
The HC further heard a separate case from YSR Congress rebel MP Raghurama Krishnamraju regarding information about FIRs registered against him. Krishnamraju filed a petition seeking the details of the cases and complaints against him. The petition was heard in the High Court on Thursday. Maheswara Reddy, the lawyer representing the home department, informed the court that there were 11 FIRs against the MP.
Umesh Chandra, Krishnamraju’s lawyer, said that the government's intention behind not giving copies of the complaints was suspicious.
The bench asked the petitioner's counsel whether the information can be obtained through RTI.
Advocate Umesh Chandra explained that personal information cannot be sought through RTI. As a result, the High Court ordered government counsel to file a counter along with the details of the FIRs, as to why the unregistered complaints should not be filed. Later, the hearing was deferred for 10 days.
In July 2020, the then minister Sriranganatha Raju at Poduru police station and MLA Grandhi Srinivas at Bhimavaram police station filed complaints against Raghurama Krishnamraju for speaking in a derogatory manner, inciting communal strife in their party and disrupting peace and security.
With that, Krishnamraju approached the High Court and filed two quash petitions, urging the court to issue preliminary orders not to take any action on the cases filed against him in various police stations.
The court that heard the petitions had previously adjourned it. The petition was heard again on Thursday. After arguments, it was adjourned for hearing 10 days later.
