Telangana HC Bench to Hear Teachers Case Next Week

Hyderabad: The fate of over 30,000 applicants to the post of special grade teacher (SGT) in the two Telugu states will come up for judicial scrutiny on October 11. Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili and Justice Namavrapu Rajeshwar Rao adjourned the matter since the bench, constituted on Thursday, was not the regular bench to hear the matter. The batch of writ petitions had a chequered history, having started their tryst with the court in 2009. The controversy relates to whether, after issuance of the notification, the action of the government in reserving 30 per cent of the posts to diploma holders is valid in law. The case seemed to attain finality in 2022 when the court directed the government to employ eligible graduate aspirants in the unfilled posts, without disturbing the selections made on the basis of the addendum to the notification and the rules. While the AP government proceeded to employ graduates on a contract basis, the Telangana government chose to test the directions in an appeal. The apex court set aside the order of the High Court and remanded the matter for fresh consideration. The government pleaders of the two states presented copious documentation running into thousands of pages. The regular bench to hear the matters will take up the matter on October 11.

Reinstate RTC conductor: HC

Justice S. Nanda of the Telangana High Court quashed a chargesheet filed against a TSRTC employee on the ground that the criminal case in which he was involved had nothing to do with his employment. The judge allowed a writ petition filed by conductor B. Ramulu, who was being prosecuted for abetting a suicide by the Kolapur police. The petitioner said he was falsely implicated in the case and had nothing to do with it. The case was neither connected to his employment nor had the alleged crime happened in the course of his employment, Ramulu said. Under the corporation service rules, an employee detained in custody for more than 48 hours shall be deemed to be suspended from service until further orders. The initiation of criminal prosecution and departmental enquiry do not attract the doctrine of double jeopardy.

HC remands tax matter of Hathway

A two-judge bench of the Telangana High Court, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice N.V. Shravan, on Thursday set aside an order of the commercial tax department against Hathway Cable and another and directed it to hear the petitioner within eight weeks. The bench was dealing with a writ plea filed by Datacom Private Limited and Hathway challenging the recovery of tax on multi-system operators under the AP Entertainment Tax Act, 1939. The petitioners said the department action was based on the Bengal Entertainment and Luxuries Tax Act, 1972, which was declared as ultra vires by the Supreme Court. They said the department had failed to provide them a hearing before passing the order.

Nursing colleges told to pay GST

A two-judge bench of the Telangana High Court directed the managements of over 30 nursing colleges to pay service tax on their affiliation fee. The payment will be subject to the hearing of the matter on merits on October 11. The bench was examining the GST demanded by the Kaloji Narayan Rao University of Health Sciences from the various colleges, consequent upon the tax being imposed by the revenue department. The petitioners said they were exempt from the tax as they were in the field of education. The revenue officials said that two notifications in 2017 and 2018 empowered collection of the tax. The tax was imposed on the university since it was giving affiliation and not the individual colleges.