Shifting: AP High Court gives an earful to government

VIJAYAWADA: The AP High Court on Tuesday expressed displeasure over the State government’s decision to shift the offices of the Vigilance Commissioner and the Commissioner of Enquiries to Kurnool and sought to know how could it do so when petitions opposing the shifting of the capital from Amaravati are pending before it. Warning that it may have to issue interim orders to maintain status quo if the government disregards its directives, the court questioned the need for shifting the offices despite its oral instructions to wait till Feb 26.

The comments were made during hearing on petitions filed by a farmer Kondepati Giridhar from Talayapalem in Guntur district and Tirupati Rao, secretary of the Amaravati Parirakshana Samiti. A division bench, comprising Chief Justice GK Maheswari and Justice N Jayasurya, posed tough questions to the government on the GO shifting the offices to Kurnool issued on January 31.

Strongly defending the government, Advocate General S Sriram argued that shifting the offices is a policy decision. “There is not enough space for these offices which was the reason why the government took a policy decision,” he said, adding that the government will file a counter-affidavit explaining the rationale behind the GO and urged the court not to issue interim orders to maintain status quo.

The AG’s argument was focused on the reasoning that Vigilance Commission and the Commissioner of Inquiries function independently without directives from the Secretariat.

However, the bench was not convinced and questioned why couldn’t permanent offices be constructed in the land available locally. “How can officers do as they like...? If they shift offices and the final verdict of the court goes against the move, they will have to cough up the expenditure incurred for shifting the offices,” it cautioned. After hearing both the sides, the court deferred hearing to Wednesday.

Tough queries
A division bench posed tough questions to the government on the GO shifting the offices to Kurnool issuedon January 31.