Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Thursday reserved its decision on whether the Governor could be named a respondent to a petition or not.
Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao dealt with objections to the listing of two petitions in which E.S.L. Narasimhan, the Governor of AP and TS, was named as one of the respondents.
The judge pointed out that according to the Article 361 of the Constitution, and orders previously issued by the Supreme Court, the Governor could not be made a party to the petition in his individual capacity.
Making it clear that he did not have the power to issue a notice to the Governor, the judge asked Mallikarjuna Sharma, the counsel appearing for petitioner why the petitioner wanted the Governor to be a party to the petition, and whether the petitioner would be willing to remove the Governor’s name from the petition.
G. Malleswara Rao, a practicing advocate, has moved petitions seeking to declare T. Srinivas Yadav, a minister in the Cabinet of Telangana, Bhuma Akhila Priya, a minster in the Cabinet of AP, Madhusudhan Chary, the Speaker of the Telangana Legislative Assembly, and Kodela Siva Prasad Rao, the Speaker of the AP Legislative Assembly, as ineligible to continue in their posts.
He says that Mr Srinivas Yadav and Ms Akhila Priya joined the ruling parties of their respective states after being elected with tickets from other parties. He also says that the Speakers of the two states are to be blamed for failing to disqualify the ministers after their defections.
The petitioner has named Mr Narasimhan, the Chief Ministers of AP and Telangana, and the Speakers of the two states as respondents to the petitions.
The counsel appearing for the petitioner said that the Governor’s name would not be removed and urged the court to pass appropriate orders. The judge decided to reserve his decision on the matter.
