PIL wants rivers to be declared as living entities

Hyderabad: The High Court on Tuesday sought the response of the Centre and the TS and AP governments on a petition seeking to declare the Penna, Krishna, Godavari, Vamsadhara and Nagavali rivers and their tributaries flowing in the Telugu states as living entities. A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice T. Rajani was dealing with a PIL filed by law student U. Deepya Chowdary.

The petitioner said rivers cannot protect themselves as juristic persons; as living persons they would have legal status with all rights. She said the rivers are getting polluted and asked both states to constitute committees to conserve these rivers. The bench sought the stands of the Centre and the two governments within four weeks.

AP, TS Delay in naming CICs:

The High Court asked the Telangana state and AP governments to explain in a week why they had not appointed Chief Infor-mation Commissioners and Information Commissioners. A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice T. Rajani was dealing with a PIL by Forum for Good Governance represented by its general secretary M. Padmanabhaiah. Counsel B. Rachana Reddy said the posts were vacant for two months, and people seeking information were facing hardships.

Report sought on RTE quota:

The High Court asked TS and AP governments to explain the steps being taken to implement 25 per cent quota for free education up to Class VIII as specified by the Right of Education Act. A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice T. Rajani was dealing with a PIL by Mr T. Yogesh, a law student from Visakhapatnam district. He said poor children were being denied their rights. TS counsel A. Sanjeev Kumar said the government was framing the modalities. He said there were two similar cases pending before the court. The bench directed the registry to tag the present case with the pending cases.