The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee has urged Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan to direct the Telangana government and the Assembly to restore all the benefits and privileges to its party MLAs Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and S.A. Sampath Kumar to “uphold the rule of law and the judgment of the High Court in true letter and spirit”.
A delegation of the TPCC led by party president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, CLP leader K. Jana Reddy, Leader of Opposition in Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir, TPCC working president Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka met the Governor at Raj Bhavan on Monday. They informed the Governor that Mr. Venkat Reddy and Mr. Sampath Kumar were expelled from Assembly by “an illegal and unconstitutional resolution” by the House of Telangana Legislative Assembly due to “an erroneous view of fact and law” on March 13 and later declared the vacancy of seats on the same day by duly notifying the Election Commission of India.
The leaders informed the Governor that acting on a writ petition filed by the MLAs, the High Court has set aside the expulsion order passed by the Assembly and also the notification leading to automatic restoration and revival of the membership of two MLAs.
“Though 20 days have elapsed from the date of delivery of the judgment, neither the State government nor the Assembly preferred any appeal against the said judgment, thereby allowing the judgment of the single judge to attain finality,” Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy told reporters outside Raj Bhavan.
The learned Single Judge has categorically held that the expulsion proceedings are set aside and the petitioners’ membership in the Telangana Legislative Assembly is automatically restored and revived, he added.
The court also further upheld the continuance of our MLAs in the Telangana Assembly for the remaining tenure as duly elected MLAs for all practical purposes. In spite of specific observation by the court, the Assembly website is still not showing the two as MLAs and the protocol and privileges have not been extended so far, the TPCC chief observed.
