A bench of Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sen Gupta and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar from High Court on Monday granted a week’s time to the Telangana government to respond to a plea filed by Forum for Better Hyderabad seeking immediate conduct of election to the GHMC. Earlier the bench had called upon the government to come up with its schedule.
The writ petition is filed by an NGO seeking a declaration that the action of the Telangana government in not conducting elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation as illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional and in violation of Article 243 U of the Constitution of India which provides the constitutional right to local self-government.
The NGO also sought a declaration that Section 70 G of the GHMC Act, which empowers the appointment of Special Officers in place of the elected Council as ultra vires Article 243 U (3)(a) of the Constitution of India . It is the case of the government that it would justify its position and therefore time to be granted for filing its response.