A division bench of the Telangana High Court comprising Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice A. Rajasheker Reddy on Wednesday passed an order staying proceedings of contempt of court against three police officers.
The contempt proceedings against DGP M. Mahender Reddy, SPs of Nalgonda and Jogulamba Gadwala districts, A.V. Ranganath and Rema Rajeswari respectively, were initiated for failing to comply with a single judge order staying expulsion of two Congress MLAs from Telangana Assembly.
Already, two other contemnors in the case, the Assembly Secretary and the Law Secretary, secured similar order the previous week in the case. Earlier, they were taken into custody when they appeared before the single judge in the contempt case and set free after furnishing personal bonds.
Along with the two secretaries and three police officers, former Speaker of the Assembly S. Madhusudhana Chary was also issued notice in the contempt case. While the five contemnors secured stay orders, the former Speaker had not obtained any such direction so far.
Compensation
The bench also directed the State government to ensure mandatory compensation is paid to the families of 71 identified victims of silicosis in Shadnagar of Ranga Reddy district.
After hearing the submission by the government counsel on steps taken to help out families of workers who died of silicosis, the HC said other victims should also be identified sooner. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice A. Rajasheker Reddy took up as Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition a news story filed by The Hindu recently and sought to know steps taken to extend justice to the victims’ families.
In another development, the bench had reserved orders in a writ petition filed by Samajwadi Forward Blo relating to deletion of truck from the list of election symbols. The bench had heard arguments of the petitioner's counsel and the Election Commission of India's counsel on the matter earlier.
