Hyderabad: A division bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin on Tuesday overruled the registry’s objections and allowed a petition challenging the election of BRS leader and former IAS officer P Venkatrama Reddy as a member of the legislative council (MLC). The court directed the registry to issue a case number and proceed with the matter.The petitioner, . Shankar of Dharmapuri, alleged that Reddy resigned from his IAS post through voluntary retirement in order to contest the MLC election as a BRS nominee. Shankar claimed that the state govt, allegedly influenced by the then ruling BRS party and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, accepted Reddy’s resignation in violation of the department of personnel and training (DoPT) guidelines. Shankar argued that Reddy’s resignation did not comply with central service norms and relied on an RTI reply from the DoPT, which stated that it had not received any resignation letter from Reddy. This, he contended, demonstrated that the competent authority neither received nor approved the voluntary retirement request. He urged the court to stay Reddy’s continuance as an MLC and directed the secretary of the state legislative council not to permit Reddy’s participation in council proceedings until the case is resolved.
