Hyderabad, December 16: A division Bench of the High Court, comprising Chief Justice AR Dave and Justice CV Nagarjuna Reddy, today granted a day’s breather to the State Government to decide whether the GO 856 must run its course.
The government issued the order on Dec 3 directing all colleges and junior colleges in the ten districts of Telangana be closed down for a fortnight. Students challenged it on the ground that it was discriminatory and illegal. A single judge suspended the government order. The government filed an appeal and had the order suspended.
The petitioner’s counsel told the court that there were no untoward incidents in the region and therefore even if the order was originally valid the failure of the government to revise its order was illegal.
He said the government had reacted to sporadic incidents in Telangana with seeming promptitude but had not taken any action when similar incidents were happening in other regions. Such inaction could be construed as discriminatory, he said and pleaded that the government cannot be given the luxury of such leisured decision-making in this hour of crisis.
Advocate-General DV Sitaram Murthy sought time till tomorrow to inform the court of the decision being taken by a high-powered committee on the matter.
The petitioner insisted that the matter be heard on merits as the government was stonewalling the process. The bench granted time to the government till Wednesday but made it clear that if a decision was taken to reopen the institutions then the same would be made public immediately through the electronic and print media.
–Agencies