Hyderabad: A two-judge panel of the Telangana High Court, comprising Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy, directed the State government to take immediate steps to nab the guilty running online loan apps and block such apps. The court also directed the state to file an action taken report in this regard. The panel was dealing with a public interest litigation filed by Kalyan Dileep Sunkara seeking a direction to ban all the illegal instant loan apps available on Google Play Store and various web mediums. He stated that these apps were are giving illegal loans and charging 150-450% rate of interest on a weekly and fortnightly basis. He further stated that they were working hand in hand as a chain instant loan lending groups and harassing people by accessing their mobile phone galleries without following end-to-end encryption rules. They were intimidating borrowers by blackmailing them with personal photos and contact list, and also driving them to suicide. The court posted the case after four 4 weeks.
Environmental compensation
The same panel came down heavily on the state and expressed surprise that it had failed to reconstitute the Pollution Control Appellate Tribunal even as the term of the last Tribunal members expired three years ago. The statute under Air Act and Water Act contemplates that there should be an Appellate Tribunal, and it is incumbent upon the state to constitute the Tribunal, it said. The court directed the state to file its report on this. A writ plea was filed by Mylan Laboratories Limited challenging the levying of environmental compensation. The case was posted to February 25.
Infra facilities
The same panel also sought a report from the state on the steps taken by it with regard to the progress of work being undertaken for providing mandatory basic infrastructure facilities to the petitioners in the Resettlement colony in Ananthagiri village of Ellanthakunta mandal, Rajanna Sircilla. The court was dealing with a writ plea filed by Muthyam Reddy and 58 others whose houses were submerged. The court posted the case after 4 weeks.
PIL against stone crushing units
The same panel faulted the petitioner Vislavath Sangameshwar for not impleading the stone crushing units and also for not filing the photographs of the units causing pollution. The petitioner in his PIL stated he was a driver who regularly commutes on the Outer Ring Road and due to pollution being caused by the units in and around Himayat Sagar and Osman Sagar there was a lot of health problems. He further stated that the industries are running hand in glove with the officials and had deployed heavy generators. The court posted the case to April.
Musi clean-up
The panel directed the Forum for Good Governance, a non-profit organisation, to implead the Musi Riverfront Development Board as a party respondent in its PIL. The NGO had filed the PIL challenging the lack of interest of the government in cleaning up Musi and to direct the government to constitute a body having a similar mandate as the Sabarmati River Front Development Corporation or any other such special purpose vehicle for cleaning up of the river. The panel closed two other similar PILs.
Cryptocurrency case
Justice Sridevi reserved her verdict on the bail petition of Gujarat-based businessman Naisar Shailesh Kothari. Kothari was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The allegations are that certain companies were involved in organising online gaming, cheating and diverting profits to China. Kothari in his bail plea said he was a trader in cryptocurrency which is not a banned activity. He cited an order from the SC that disapproved non-cooperation of banks to deal with cryptocurrency. He said his credentials and profile as a trader can be verified on cryptocurrency websites. He said upon a request from Dokipay company, he purchased cryptocurrency through a mediator called Kamalesh Trivedi who facilitated the entire transaction. He contended that he verified the credentials of Dokipay and ascertained from the website of the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs itself that it was operating with the consent of the Centre.
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