PIL against SEC: Telangana High Court refuses to pass order without hearing govt

The Telangana High Court on Tuesday refused to pass any order ex parte without hearing the State version and taking a look at the counter affidavit to be filed in the PIL seeking a stay of the order issued by the SEC directing the authorities concerned to put on hold the registration and distribution of relief to the flood-affected families till completion of GHMC elections.

Petitioner advocate Sharath told the court that the SEC had taken a unilateral decision without consulting political parties contesting in the GHMC polls.  

Meanwhile, standing counsel for SEC G Vidya Sagar submitted that the government was asked to stop distribution of flood relief temporarily but not perpetually. 

While directing the State to file its counter affidavit in the case by December 4, the court said that it was the fundamental duty of Election Commission to ensure a free and fair election and without any bias and favouritism to the party in power.

Hearing on Dharani case today

The counsels appearing for some of the petitioners, on Tuesday, contended that the State government’s decision to seek Aadhaar, caste and phone number, while uploading details of immovable land properties on Dharani is illegal and unconstitutional.

The Central government has made necessary amendments to the Information Technology Act before taking a decision to link Aadhaar to PAN card, but the State government has not made any amendments to the Registration Act for uploading details on Dharani, they said.

Even the Centre went back on its decision to link Aadhaar with voter ID card when the Supreme Court pointed out the government’s failure to have necessary legislation for the purpose, they argued.

 Senior advocate D Prakash Reddy and advocate K Vivek Reddy made these submissions before a division bench dealing with batch petitions filed by advocates I Gopal Sharma, K Saaketh, and others, challenging the state’s decision seeking Aadhaar and caste details of the owners of land properties on Dharani. The bench posted the matter to November 25 for further hearing.