Suicides by Farmers: Telangana HC Awaits Response from State
Hyderabad: Advocate-general A. Sudarshan Reddy on Monday sought time to get instructions from the state government on the rising incidences of suicides by farmers. A PIL was filed by Vyavasaya Jana Chaitanya Samithi alleging that the state government was not taking action to prevent farmers' suicides. The counsel, appearing for the petitioner, contended that there was no proper provision of crop insurance as announced by the RBI, and no adjudicating authority to examine the nature of debts owed by farmers which was a significant reason for most suicides. The counsel said there were over 30 farmer suicides in the last two months for which he had sufficient proof. The matter has been adjourned to June 24.
Take recourse to Customs Act, HC tells petitioner and officials
A two-judge panel of the Telangana High Court directed the parties to seek recourse to the Customs Act for release of 932 grams of seized gold. The panel, comprising Justice P. Sam Koshy and Justice Sambasivarao Naidu, was dealing with a writ plea filed by Maneesha Pasham challenging the customs department for seizing gold worth `59 lakh that was purchased in Dubai. The petitioner said that while returning to Hyderabad, the gold was in the hand baggage for the purpose of declaration, and she was intercepted by customs officers, who seized the gold. The petitioner complained that a notice was issued in a hasty manner for disposal of the goods. She contended that an application was submitted before the principal commissioner of customs and additional/joint commissioner of customs (adjudicating authority) for provisional release of the gold which fetched no results. The CBIC standing counsel Dominic Fernandes informed the court of a statutory remedy available to the petitioner under the Act. The panel disposed of the writ petition while granting liberty to the petitioners to seek their remedy available under the Customs Act.
Praja Shanti Party plea dismissed
A two-judge panel of the Telangana High Court, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Anil Kumar, dismissed a writ plea of Praja Shanti Party questioning the Election Commission of India (ECI) for refusing to grant a common symbol — helicopter or ring, to it. The party was represented through its leader, evangelist K.A. Paul. The petitioner contended that the application was filed on January 19 but the same was rejected by the ECI. Earlier, the court had directed the commission to respond with a list of reasons as to why the application had been rejected. Senior counsel, Avinash Desai, appearing for the ECI, said that the applicant had failed to show his expenditure and contributions and annual audited accounts.
Celestial wedding of Lord Rama and Sita: HC tells govt to form expert panel to look into issue
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Monday did not interdict the present customary practice of naming the ‘gotram’ and ‘pravara’ at the Bhadrachalam temple for Wednesday’s celestial wedding of Lord Rama and Sita. The court was hearing a bunch of three writ pleas complaining of change in the customary practices. According to the petitioners G.T.V. Manindhar, T.V. Ratna Rao and Jamalapurapu Srinivas Rao, the ‘gotram’ and ‘pravara’ of Lord Rama and Sita were replaced with those of Lord Vishnu and Goddess Mahalakshmi. The religious wing of the temple, opposing the pleas, contended that there was no change as alleged and that the procedures of the temple were dictated by the Sthlapurana, Kshetrapurana and the Agamas. Justice N.V. Shravan Kumar directed the state government to constitute a five-member expert committee to look into the question as to whether there has been a change in the practice, as alleged. The judge also included in the reference that the expert committee should examine the practices at all temples of the deities in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The judge required that such a report be placed before the court by the next date of hearing.