HC finds fault with principal secretary for terminating Addl Public Prosecutor

Hyderabad: A division bench of the Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed the government to submit its stand on Section 37 of the Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019 in a batch of appeals filed by several municipal chairpersons and vice-chairpersons who are facing no-confidence motions.

Their contention was that the Act did not provide for holding a no-confidence motion. They argued that the motion moved against them was not only inconsistent with the statutory provisions of Section 37 but also liable to be declared as illegal because there were no legal provisions governing the removal of the chairperson and the vice-chairperson of a municipal council.

Earlier, a single judge had dismissed their contentions by observing that the Municipalities Act, 1965 was repealed and re-enacted in the form of the Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019. Section 46 of the repealed Act mentioned the procedure for moving of a no-confidence motion against the chairperson and vice-chairperson.

While noting the provisions of the General Clauses Act, the single judge had said that the sub-rules of Section 46 of the repealed Act were applicable to Section 37 of the 2019 Act.

The petitioners filed an appeal before the division bench. Senior counsel Kondam Vivek Reddy argued that Section 37 was inconsistent with Section 46 of the AP Municipalities Act, 1965, and that the consequential action that had to be taken by the state government, and the motion of no-confidence could not be passed against the appellants.

In this context, the division bench issued notice to the state government to come with its stand by January 29.