Political parties’ lands under AP High Court scanner

Hyderabad: A division bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar of the AP High Court on Wednesday summoned the principal secretary, revenue, to be present on December 24 along with records of alienation of lands to political parties in the state.

The bench was dealing with a petition by V. Gopi Krishna of Nellore, challenging a GO to alienate 0.97 cents to the District Congress Committee to construct its party office at East Gudur village in Gudur mandal.

The petitioner said officers calculated value of the land at Rs 6,250 per sq. yard whereas the government had given it at Rs 100 per sq. yard.

The Chief Justice said that the court is of the view that the allotment to political parties was not proper and directed the principal secretary to place details of all lands to various political parties in the state.

PIL against IT minister quashed

The AP High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition challenging the election of IT minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah from Jangaon assembly constituency in 2009.

Kommuri Pratap Reddy, rival candidate of the minister, moved the petition seeking to declare Lakshmaiah’s election as illegal and to order for recounting and scrutiny of all the ballot papers.

Pratap Reddy lost election by 236 votes.

While dismissing the plea, Justice R. Kantha Rao made it clear that the allegations cannot be accepted at their face value in the absence of prima facie proof.