The Legislative Assembly Speaker should restrain himself from making comments and levelling allegations against the judiciary, or a court of law, former Mayor and TDP leader Sabbam Hari told the media here on Friday.

Mr. Hari was reacting to the comments allegedly made by Speaker Thammineni Seetharam that the High Court had never in the past interfered in the functioning of the government as it was doing now.

“It may be true. But the government and the Speaker should introspect why the court is interfering,” Mr. Hari observed.

“It is rare for the courts to interfere in the functioning of the government in any State. But why is it happening in Andhra Pradesh? The government should ponder upon this question. Only then will it realise its wrongdoings,” Mr. Hari said.

‘Wrongdoings’

“Court interferes only when peace is threatened, or basic rights of people that are enshrined in the Constitution are infringed upon,” he said.

Citing examples, Mr. Hari said, “It is the right of the people to pursue education in their mother tongue. When the government tried to abolish it, the court had to intervene and restrain the government. The CRDA was established after farmers parted with their precious land. When the government tried to dump it and hurt the farmers, the court had to interfere. The curtailing of the term of State Election Commissioner (SEC) too was unconstitutional, and that was why the court’s ruling went in N. Ramesh Kumar’s favour.”

“Similarly, the painting of government buildings was unconstitutional, and the court had to put a brake on the government’s plan,” he said.

“The Speaker is an elected representative, but his or her duty is sacred. It will be good if Mr. Seetharam confines himself to the proceedings of the House,” he said.

Mr. Hari was also critical at the way TDP MLA and former Minister K. Atchannaidu was arrested. “The MLA was forced to travel by car to Amaravati just a couple of days after undergoing a surgery,” he added.