Hyderabad, August 18: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday issued notices to Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao directing them to appear before it in a case related to encroachment of government assigned lands by the Chief Minister in his native Idupulapaya in Kadapa district.
A division bench of the High Court comprising Justice D S R Varma and Justice R Kantha Rao issued the orders today on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by senior TDP leader P Ashoka Gajapathi Raju.
The case has been posted to September 9 for further hearing.
Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and Dharmana Prasada Rao are respondents No. 8 and 9 in the case. Both the Chief Minister and the Revenue Minister will have to appear before the High Court through their lawyers and subsequently file their counters, according to counsel for the petitioner Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar.
The PIL was filed two years ago after the state government refused to initiate any action against the Chief Minister who admitted to have encroached upon over 300 acres of government assigned land at Idupulapaya in Kadapa district.
The Chief Minister initially had told the state Assembly that the total assigned land in his family’s possession in the Idupulapaya estate was over 700 acres but subsequently reduced it to 300 acres.
He pleaded that he was ignorant of the fact that the said lands were government assigned.
Ashoka Gajapathi Raju, now a deputy leader of the Telugu Desam Legislature Party, filed the PIL in the High Court alleging that Rajasekhara Reddy violated the provisions of Forest Act, Land Reforms Act, Land Encroachment Act, AP Assigned Lands Act among others.
The High Court had earlier issued notices to the state government on the issue. Now, notices have been issued to the Chief Minister as well as the Revenue Minister.
-Agencies