AP high court issues notice to govt over capital Bills

VIJAYAWADA: The AP high court on Tuesday issued notices to the state government, and the secretary and additional secretary of AP legislative council for not notifying the select committee on the Bills that are intended to trifurcate the state capital and repeal AP Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) Act.
Hearing a petition moved by TDP MLC Gunapati Deepak Reddy, the high court directed the respondents to file counter affidavits by June 22.Deepak Reddy said in his petition that as both the Bills were illegal and unconstitutional as his party had opposed them in the legislative council and left a notice under Rule 71 of Council Rules in the office of the secretary on January 21. The council chairman then referred both the Bills to a select committee and directed the secretary to notify the same.
However, the council secretary has not notified anything to the eight-member select committee till date, which is in violation of the rules, the petitioner said. Senior counsel Unnam Muralidhar Rao, arguing on behalf of Deepak Reddy, said the secretary has no authority or power to defy the directions of the council chairman. He said as a quid pro quo for his extension of service tenure as council secretary, P Balakrishnama Charyulu deliberately defied the decision of the House and the chairman. The high court issued notices to the respondents to file counter affidavits and posted further hearing of the case to June 22.