A Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court has upheld the interim suspension of the 51 special invitees appointed by the State government to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Trust Board and directed counsel to file petitions on the Ordinance promulgated in this regard. The Bench posted the matter for hearing after two weeks.
The Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Satyanarayana Murthy on Tuesday heard the Public Interest Litigations (PILs) filed against the issuance of the G.O. Rt. No. 568 and 569 by the Andhra Pradesh government.
Advocate Umesh Chandra P.V.G. , who appeared for one of the petitioners K. Lalith Kumar of the Hindu Janasakthi, submitted before the court that subsequent to the interim suspension of the G.O.s, the respondent State undertook an exercise in its legislative competence and an Ordinance was promulgated to correct the legal defect.
Advocate N. Ashwani Kumar, who represented BJP Leader and former TTD Trust Board member G. Bhanuprakash Reddy, informed the court that the Ordinance was promulgated to make the petitions infructuous. In his petition, Mr. Reddy had challenged the appointment of the TTD Trust Board members. Therefore his case stands on a different footing when compared to other two PILs, in which an interim suspension was granted, he said.
Interlocutory application
The Bench enquired about the interlocutory application filed in the matter. The counsel representing the intervenor MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy informed the court that due to the interim suspension of the G.O.s, the MLA, who was appointed as a special invitee to the TTD Trust Board, could not discharge his responsibilities and therefore, an interlocutory application has been filed, seeking vacation of stay in the matter.
Mr. Umesh Chandra urged the court to grant two weeks for filing counter on the Ordinance. The High Court, while vacating the stay in favour of Mr. Karunakar Reddy, posted the matter for hearing after for two weeks.
