Chief secretary S K Joshi appears before Hyderabad HC in contempt case

HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Friday directed the Telangana government to file counter affidavit in a contempt case against the state’s failure to implement the court order in spite of giving an undertaking for constituting the ‘State Commission for Debt Relief (small farmers, agricultural labourers and rural artisans)’ by November last year.

Pursuant to earlier direction by the court, state chief secretary S K Joshi appeared before the division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice J Uma Devi dealing with contempt case filed by BJP senior leader N Indrasena Reddy against the Telangana government for its failure to constitute the above commission within three months.

During the course of hearing, additional advocate general J Ramachandra Rao submitted that there was no violation of the court orders. Though the Act concerned was brought in November last year, it has come into effect from March 13, 2018. At present, the government has appointed two members in the commission viz. K Laxma Reddy and P Srihari Rao, and Laxma Reddy was entrusted with all responsibilities till appointment of the chairman, he added.

After hearing the submissions of the AAG, the bench said that the issue of the Act coming into force was not brought to its notice. While adjourning the case to April 27, the bench directed the state government to file counter affidavit and dispensed with the appearance of the CS.