Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy of the Telangana High Court on Friday sought to know from the State government why details were not provided to Malkajgiri MP A. Revanth Reddy of Congress as per his Right to Information (RTI) Act application about Nehru Outer Ring Road (NORR) Toll, Operate and Transfer (TOT) agreement.
The judge was hearing a writ petition filed by Mr. Reddy, who is also Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president, seeking a direction to the State government to provide details of the NORR TOT agreement it had with IRB Infrastructures Developers Limited. The petitioner’s counsel T. Rajinikanth Reddy told the court that the MP had even approached the Information Commission’s office explaining that he was being deprived of the details on the TOT deal.
Counsel informed the court that the Information Commission’s office was defunct as the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioner posts were lying vacant. With no one from the State government giving details on the matter, the MP was compelled to knock the HC door, he said.
Advocate General B.S. Prasad explained that the government had to follow certain parameters and guidelines while furnishing data or content under the RTI Act pleas. Already, details sought by Mr. Revanth Reddy were provided to him as per the norms under the Act, he said.
The judge observed that State government should have provided the details asked by the petitioner since he was a Member of Parliament. The likelihood of the MP speaking about the NORR TOT agreement in Parliament could not be ruled out since he was not given information, the judge said.
The judge granted two weeks as sought by the AG to file a counter-affidavit in the matter.
In a separate matter, a bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice T. Vinod Kumar asked the AG to secure instructions on when the State government was likely to hold elections to rural local bodies. The bench was hearing a PIL petition seeking a direction to the State government to conduct elections to Zilla Parishads, Mandal Parishads and Gram Panchayats in the State.
Counsel for Telangana State Election Commission informed the court that the Commission was ready to hold elections if the State government was ready to give its consent for the same.
