TS HC dismisses petitions of no-trust motion against municipal chairpersons

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Friday dismissed a batch of 30 petitions filed by chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of municipalities challenging the no-confidence motions filed against them.

Justice C.V. Bhaskar Reddy in his order said that the Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019, has to be read in its entirety, instead of restoring to a piecemeal approach. “Section 37, which deals with ‘Motion of No Confidence in Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson’ cannot be read and constructed in isolation of the other provisions of the Act,” he said.

The court orders would pave the way for the dissidents — most of them in BRS-ruled urban bodies — to move no-trust motions against municipal chairpersons and vice-chairpersons.

When the councillors had moved no-confidence motions and submitted the proceedings to the district collectors, these chairpersons and vice-chairpersons approached the High Court seeking a stay on all proceedings.

The contention of the petitioners was that there were no rules framed under Section 238 read with Section 37 of the Act for carrying out the no-confidence motion. In its absence, there was no statutory and legal provision to remove them citing a lack of trust.

The High Court had stayed the no-confidence motions.

Opposing the contention of the petitioners, Gowraram Rajashekar Reddy and several other counsels representing the councillors, submitted that in view of the saving clause of Section 299 of the repealed Telangana Municipal Act, 1965, and rules framed under it, they are not inconsistent with the Act.

Counsels submitted that the AP Municipalities Rules 2008 framed in the exercise of power conferred with the relevant sections of the Repealed Act were adopted by Telangana in 2016 and were in operation. As such, Section 37 of the new Act and the rules provide adequate statutory and legal provisions for carrying out the no-trust votes.