MLC nomination: Telangana HC reserves orders on BRS leaders' petitions

Hyderabad, Feb 15: The Telangana High Court on Thursday reserved its orders on the petitions filed by two BRS leaders challenging Governor's action in rejecting their nomination to the Legislative Council.

Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice S. Nanda reserved their orders on the petitions of Dasoju Sravan Kumar and Satyanarayana.

Sravan Kumar and Satyanarayana were nominated to the Legislative Council by the previous BRS government but the Governor had rejected the nominations.

The recommendation passed by the then state Cabinet in July last year was sent to the Governor.

However, she rejected the nominations on September 19 on the ground that the two were "politically aligned persons".

Following the change of guards in the state due to the defeat of BRS in Assembly elections, the BRS leaders filed petitions challenging the Governor’s action.

The petitioners contended that the decision taken by the Governor to reject the recommendations of the Council of Ministers was due to 'lack of personal satisfaction' and not due to any ambiguity in the recommendation itself, which is arbitrary therefore illegal.

The petitioners called 'the order passed by the Governor as mala fide, arbitrary, unconstitutional and in excess of her jurisdiction. On January 30, the High Court stayed the swearing-in of Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) president M. Kodandaram and journalist Amer Ali Khan as members of Telangana Legislative Council.

The court pronounced the order on the plea by the petitioners to stop the swearing-in till their petitions are decided by the court. The Governor on January 25 nominated Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan as MLCs under Governor's quota on the recommendation of the Congress government.