Telangana HC Admits PIL Challenging Cabinet-Rank to Advisers
A division bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin overruled the objections and directed the registry to allot a regular case number to the PIL and tagged it with a similar petition filed in 2017 by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy.
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Thursday overruled objections raised by the High Court registry to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by political activist Dr Errolla Srinivas who was challenging the government’s decision to grant Cabinet-rank status to several advisers.
The PIL questioned the constitutional validity of conferring Cabinet rank on individuals who are not members of the Council of Ministers. It names K. Keshava Rao, Parige (Pocharam) Srinivas Reddy, P. Sudarshan Reddy, K. Prem Sagar Rao, Dr G. Chinna Reddy, Vem Narender, Mohd. Ali Shabbir, Harkara Venugopal Rao, Aditya Nath Das, A.P. Jithender Reddy, Mallu Ravi, K. Srinivasa Raju, Prasanna Kumar Suryadevara and K. Penta Reddy as beneficiaries of the impugned appointments.
Dr Srinivas contended that granting Cabinet-rank status to non-ministers violated Article 164(1A) of the Constitution, amounted to arbitrary exercise of executive power, and resulted in misuse of public funds. The petition argued that the appointees received various benefits — including salary, official accommodation, medical reimbursement, staff, vehicles, tax exemptions, and security cover — placing an undue financial burden on the State exchequer without any legal basis.
A division bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin overruled the objections and directed the registry to allot a regular case number to the PIL and tagged it with a similar petition filed in 2017 by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy.
