TS HC Dismisses Appeal Against No-Trust Moves in Civic Bodies

Hyderabad: The Division Bench of the Telangana High Court on Wednesday dismissed the appeal filed by several municipal chairpersons and vice-chairpersons who were facing no-confidence motions.

The Division Bench was not inclined to interfere in the Single Judge orders, which had upheld the decisions of district collectors in allowing the no-confidence motion against the chairpersons and others.

The contention of appellants was that the Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019, does not provide for carrying out the no-confidence motion against chairperson or vice- chairperson

Further they argued that the no-trust motions moved against them were not only inconsistent with the statutory provisions of Section 37 of the Act, 2019 but also liable to be declared illegal because of the fact that there are no legal provisions in the Act, 2019 governing the removal of chairperson or vice-chairperson of a municipal council.

Earlier, the Single Judge had dismissed the contentions of the chairpersons and vice- chairpersons, by observing that the Telangana Municipalities Act, 1965 was repealed and re-enacted in the form of Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019.

Section 46 of Repealed Act 1965 clearly mentions the procedure for moving of no-confidence motion against chairman/chairperson/vice-chairperson.

While noting the provisions of the General Clauses Act, the Single Judge made it clear that the sub-rules of Section 46 of the Repealed Act, 1965, are applicable to provisions of Section 37 of new Act, 2019.

The Division Bench, however, was not inclined to interfere into the orders of the Single Judge.