HYDERABAD: Justice T. Vinod Kumar of the Telangana High Court suspended the allotment of 2BHK flats at Mankhal to non-residents, on a writ petition filed by residents of Mankhal, Maheshwaram mandal. The petitioners said the 2BHK units were allotted, contrary to the procedure, to residents of Charminar, Malakpet and Chandrayanguta and not the locals. Senior counsel Mayur Reddy said state largesse must adhere to policy and cannot be whimsical.
10 days to decide on seat intake:
Justice S. Nanda of Telangana High Court gave the government 10 days to take a decision on increasing the number of seats in certain MBA, MCA, BPharm and Pharma-D colleges. The judge was hearing a batch of writ pleas filed by managements of multiple colleges including Arora and Avanthi, which said they had secured approval from the AICTE and no objection from the JNTU but the government had allowed some colleges to increase intake but not the others. Tarun G. Reddy, leading the batch of petitions on Tuesday, complained that the government had ignored two consecutive orders of the court.
Govt to pay Rs. 5,000 costs for delay:
Justice C. Sumalatha of the Telangana High Court imposed Rs 5,000 costs and faulted the government and the forest department for failing to file its response to a petition. The judge was hearing a writ plea filed by Mallea Krishna challenging their eviction from the land occupied by them for generations, by the forest department. The court gave the government two weeks to respond.
Bizman’s passport to be released
Justice S. Nanda of the Telangana High Court ordered the release of the passport of A. Karunakar Reddy, a businessman. He said in a petition that his wife had filed multiple criminal cases against him and the Regional Passport Officer had insisted that he surrender his passport in lieu of obtaining a diplomatic/ official passport. The petitioner said that holding back his passport was illegal and unconstitutional. The authorities said the petitioner had not mentioned the pendency of the criminal case. Justice Nanda cited the apex court verdict in the celebrated case of Menaka Gandhi, that no person can be deprived of the right to go abroad unless there is a law enabling the state to do so and such law contains fair, reasonable, and just procedure. The judge recorded that the reason cited did not fall within the prohibitions contained in the Passport Act.
Notice on tribal areas in the municipality
A two-judge bench of the Telangana High Court ordered notice to the government in a PIL challenging the inclusion of tribal areas in the Bhadrardi municipality. A bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice N.V. Shravan Kumar required the government to respond to a plea filed by Bhukya Deva Nayak, secretary Lambadi Hakula Porata Samiti. He complained that the inclusion of Palavancha, Manuguru and Mandamari agencies was in apparent violation of Article 243 ZC of the Constitution of India.
