Supreme Court To Hold Fresh Hearings in Revanth Reddy’s Cash-for-Vote Case

Hyderabad: The Supreme Court on Thursday said it would hold fresh hearings in the FIR on the alleged ‘cash for vote’ case of 2015, involving Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, then a Telugu Desam legislator, as the judges who had previously heard the matter had since retired.

The petitions seeking quashing of FIRs and others came up for hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Thursday as a part-heard matter. The CJI made it clear that, in view of the retirement of the judges who had earlier heard the case, the matter could not continue from where it was left and would have to be heard afresh. The court said that the schedule would be fixed for hearing.

Revanth Reddy and BRS leader Sandra Venkata Veeraiah, accused in the case, had approached the Supreme Court challenging the investigation by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) into the case. BRS leaders had subsequently impleaded themselves in the proceedings.

During Thursday’s hearing, counsel appearing for the BRS leaders brought to the CJI’s attention that the matter had been treated as a part-heard case. The CJI categorically stated that the matter would now be taken up as a fresh case.

Petitioners Seeking Quashing of FIRs or Final Reports Should Mandatorily Disclose Previous Criminal Petition Before HC

Hyderabad: Taking a serious view of accused persons approaching the court with fresh petitions seeking quashing of FIRs without disclosing earlier proceedings, the Telangana High Court has put in place safeguards to ensure that litigants do not give the impression that they are approaching the court as they did not approach the court earlier.

Justice J. Sreenivas Rao directed the Registrar (Judicial) to issue a circular making it mandatory for petitioners seeking quashing of FIRs or final reports to disclose whether they had previously filed any similar criminal petition before the High Court and, if so, the outcome of such proceedings.

The court has also made it mandatory for advocates representing petitioners who are not in custody to file a vakalatnama authorising them to appear in the criminal proceedings.

The court directed that the petitioners challenging a final report or questioning interlocutory orders must disclose the status of the proceedings before the trial court and annex the corresponding e-courts case-status report to their petitions.

The judge issued the directives in the backdrop of a case came to the fore in proceedings concerning FIR registered at Kalloor police station, Khammam district, registered for offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

The accused approached the High Court seeking quashing of the FIR and the proceedings arising from it. After hearing the parties, the criminal petition was disposed of on July 23, 2026.

The very next day, the court was informed by the additional public prosecutor that the same accused, along with another accused, had filed another petition before the High Court seeking quashing of the very same FIR. That petition was pending when the subsequent criminal petition was filed.

The court consequently took note of the fact that the earlier proceedings had not been brought to its notice.

Appearing for the petitioner, advocate K. Hemalatha submitted that she was unaware of the earlier criminal petition and its pendency and that the petitioner had not furnished the information to her at the time of filing the fresh petition.

HC Adjourns BRS MLAs' Petition Challenging Speaker's Decision Over Their Disqualification To Aug. 17

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court for the second day heard the batch of petitions filed by BRS MLAs challenging the Speaker`s decision dismissing the applications for disqualification of alleged turncoat BRS MLAs. As the arguments were inconclusive, the court adjourned the matter to August 17 for further hearing.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin on Thursday heard the submissions made by senior counsel Gandra Mohan Rao, who appeared for the petitioners, BRS MLAs Padi Kaushik Reddy and others. Counsel submitted that the Speaker’s decision was erroneous in dismissing the disqualification petition of Danam Nagender, who won on a BRS ticket and shifted to the Congress, and went to the Congress office at Gandhi Bhavan and wore the Congress kanduva in the presence of the AICC party incharge and contested the election for the Secunderabad parliamentary constituency on a Congress ticket.

HC Directs Enrolment To Bar Council of Telangana To Be Put In Abeyance Until Aug. 31

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has directed the interim enrolment committee of the Bar Council of Telangana to keep the enrolment process in abeyance until orders were pronounced in a writ petition challenging the committee’s constitution. The matter has been posted for orders on August 31.

B. Jagadishwer challenged the June 6, 2026, letter constituting the committee, contending that it was illegal and violated Section 58 of the Advocates Act, 1961. He sought suspension of the letter and constitution of a regular enrolment committee in accordance with the Act.

The Bar Council of India, the Bar Council of Telangana and the enrolment committee opposed the plea through their counsel. Justice N. Tukaramji noted that the writ petition had been heard and was awaiting orders. The court was informed that the committee was scheduled to conduct enrolments on August 17 and consider about 200 applications. The judge observed that if the petitioner succeeded, questions could arise regarding the validity of enrolments made by the committee. Considering the balance of convenience and to avoid further complications, the court ordered that the proposed enrolment process should remain suspended until the writ petition is decided.