Church fund fraud: HC directs police to probe

Hyderabad: Justice C.V. Bhaskar Reddy of the Telangana High Court on Monday directed police functionaries to investigate and resolve alleged misappropriation of funds of Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church. The judge was hearing the plea filed by the church alleging inaction of police authorities in acting upon its complaint about fraud committed by private respondents, who collected funds from the devotees in the name of the church.

Justice Bhaskar Reddy, upon perusing the complaint, said that there is no evidence to allude that the alleged frauds were collected in the name of the church. He further questioned the maintainability of such a petition and pointed out that by merely based on allegations, courts cannot direct the police to take cognizance of the same. However, the judge closed the writ plea directing the police to investigate and resolve the issue.

Fake certificate: Action against Alampur officials

A two-judge bench of the Telangana High Court on Monday was thoroughly dissatisfied with the explanation given by the mandal revenue inspector and tahsildar of Alampur mandal for their role in granting a false nativity certificate in favour of a candidate seeking admission in a medical college in Telangana state.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Anil Kumar, was dealing with a writ plea filed by Singotam Vennela, questioning the order of Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences in not granting admission to the candidate. In the course of the hearing, the bench found that the petitioner had prosecuted her school and had done her intermediate from Andhra Pradesh.

The bench therefore wondered as to how a nativity certificate showing her as a student of Telangana could be given. The court was unhappy with the response of the tahsildar, who said it was the responsibility  of the mandal revenue inspector. Describing their explanations stated in the counter affidavit as “far from satisfactory”, the bench directed the collector to initiate action against both the officers. The bench granted time to the collector till March 1 to submit his explanation and directed the matter be listed on March 4.

Sarikinda bidi workers plead for house sites

Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy of the Telangana High Court on Monday directed the government pleader for revenue to get instructions in a writ plea challenging the non-allotment of house plots to bidi workers from Sarikinda mandal in Nizamabad district.

The petitioners, Lakkavathi Raju and 46 others, who are bidi workers, submitted that in spite of their written representations, the district collector and revenue officials had turned a blind eye to the same. They also contended that the callous attitude of the authorities was causing immense hardship to their families.