Caste Column Comes Under HC Lens

 Hyderabad: A Telangana High Court bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Sujoy Paul on Tuesday took on file an application for the early hearing of a PIL challenging the action of the government in including religion and caste in school admission forms and transfer certificates. A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by D.V. Damkrishna Rao, a journalist, contending that 'non-religious' and 'non-caste' must be given as an option of all walks of life including the Census. The petitioner sought a direction to the government to take steps to issue appropriate guidelines and provisions to record the 'no-religion' and 'no-caste' as an identity in addition to all other existing identities. The petitioner contended that the government had not considered his representation on the matter. The court adjourned the petition to June for the next hearing.

Tahsildar summoned for false info

Justice T. Vinod Kumar summoned a tahsildar of Bodhan mandal to be present in the court next week after faulting him for giving false information. The judge was hearing a writ plea filed by T. Raju Vittal. The judge was privy to the instruction in writing offered by the tahsildar to the government pleader. In the midst of the controversy was the question as to whether a road existed on the premises in question. The tahsildar stated in his "instruction" that there was no such road. On probing the old village map, Justice Vinod Kumar found the existence of an old road. The judge was livid at the casual attitude of the revenue authorities and summoned the tahsildar to be present in court personally.

Save ashoorkhana near Charminar: HC

The Telangana High Court granted time to the state government to present an action taken report on protecting the Bad-e-Shahi Ashoorkhana, near the High Court. The bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Sujoy Paul was hearing a bunch of writ pleas on protecting heritage buildings. In the present writ petition, it was contended that the heritage building had been left open for encroachment and abuse. In an application seeking impleadment Mir Abbas Ali Moosvi, a muttawali, contended that it was the duty of the government to protect the heritage building and its failure to do so amounted to a statutory failure and a constitutional violation.

HC: Hold Adibatla municipality poll

Justice T. Vinod Kumar of the Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed the Telangana State Election Commission (TSEC) to conduct elections for the chairperson and vice-chairperson of the Adibatla Municipality as early as possible. A writ plea was filed challenging the inaction of the TSEC in filling up the vacancies since the vacancies arose due to a no-confidence motion on February 9. It was the contention of the petitioner that the posts could be filled up by calling a special meeting to conduct an election by the TSEC. The Telangana State Election Commission said two government orders had been issued notifying the vacancies. The court accordingly directed the TSEC to implement the same as early as possible and disposed of the matter.