A PIL petition challenging the directive issued by the Telangana State Election Commission (TSEC) to stop registration of flood affected families and disbursal of ₹10,000 each to them was filed in the Telangana High Court.
Petitioner S. Sharath Kumar, a lawyer, sought to declare the SEC’s letter, issued three days ago to government to put on hold disbursal of the financial assistance to flood affected families in GHMC area, illegal and arbitrary. He also requested the court to call for records from the SEC to examine what prompted it to issue the direction and at whose instance.
He requested the court to instruct the SEC to keep the direction of stopping disbursal in abeyance till adjudication of the matter. The lawyer contended that the SEC failed to act in public interest through the directive.
Citing Election Commission of India’s model code of conduct vis-a-vis relief operations during natural calamities, the petitioner said that ex gratia payments and gratuitous relief can be given directly to citizens. However, no change in the prescribed scale of payments should be made, he stated.
The lawyer stated that on the day of issuing GHMC poll notification, the SEC said at a press conference that disbursal of financial assistance would not be hampered due to the election. It then said the distribution of calamity relief was exempted from model code of conduct. However, within 24 hours, the SEC sent the directive to government to stop disbursal of money, he stated.
The plea is likely to come up for hearing on Monday.
