Hyderabad: A two-judge panel of the Telangana High Court required the Union government and the state government to respond to a suo motu petition on the infamous phone-tapping incidents. A specially constituted panel, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice T. Vinod Kumar, entered a packed court at 2.15 pm to hear the matter that had sent shockwaves across the state when a confession was made that even the telephones of High Court judges were tapped in the recent past.
Deputy Solicitor Heneral Praveen Kumar informed the court that he would require time to respond. Additional Advocate General Imran Khan assured the court that the matter was being investigated. When the former advocate general of the BRS government K. Rama Krishna Reddy stood up and informed the court that his statements on the need for suo motu action were published, the court made it clear that it was not acting on the basis of any reports on social media. Justice Vinod Kumar, the punie judge in the panel, said that the matter raised questions of security across the country and the governments, both Union and state, must respond before any further decision is taken in the matter. The panel posted the matter to after three weeks.
HC takes up report on speedy disposal of criminal cases against politicos
A two-judge panel of the Telangana High Court on Tuesday took on file a report of the registrar on the question of preferential speedy disposal of criminal cases pending against ministers, MLAs and MPs. The panel, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice T. Vinod Kumar, was hearing a suo motu petition in the matter of expeditious disposal of criminal cases against elected members of parliament and legislative assembly. Earlier the apex court had required fast-track disposal of criminal cases against political heavyweights. The panel recorded that there has been an increase in the number of cases against politicos since November 24 last year when a case was listed. The number of cases has escalated from 143 to 258 of which summons have been issued only in 235 cases. The panel made note of the point that it was only in two to three cases that the accused had appeared and that not a single case was disposed of since the last hearing of the matter in November.
