Hyderabad, February 15: A Division Bench of the A.P. High Court on Monday declared that it will soon deliver the judgment on the maintainability of the writ petition pertaining to the deal between the Dubai-based Emaar Properties and the A. P. Industrial Infrastructure (APIIC) based on a letter written by P. Shankar Rao, now a Minister.
The Bench comprising Justice V. Eswaraiah and Justice K. Suri Appa Rao heard the arguments of the counsel for Emaar as well as the amicus curie appointed by the court to assist it.
At the previous hearing, Emaar’s counsel contended that such a case could not be adjudicated as the petitioner was not a helpless citizen. Then it went to the Supreme Court which directed the A. P. High Court to first decide on the maintainability of the writ petition.
Counsel’s objection
L. Nageswar Rao, senior counsel appearing for Emaar, said that a Minister or an MLA could not write such vague letters to constitutional courts and such letters could not be the basis for adjudication. Such complaints were a result of political vendetta and recalled that the Supreme Court never appreciated cases filed by political personalities.
Subba Reddy, amicus curie, contended that it was fit case to be taken up. He said that when public interest is jeopardised, the court could take up such cases.
He cited the report of the Vigilance and Enforcement Department which indicated that there were several irregularities. The Bench reserved its judgment on maintainability of the case.
Archakas’ retirement age
Justice C.V. Ramulu of the A.P. High Court suspended the executive instructions of the government which permitted the archakas to continue up to 65 years.
The judge was dealing with a writ petition field by Jitendra Prasad of Anjaneyaswamy temple of Karimnagar. He said that the GO issued y the government fixed the age of retirement at 58 and the present memo could not alter this. The judge referred to the earlier judgments of the court and suspended the operation of the memo.
Jagan’s wealth
A Division Bench comprising Justice V. Eswaraiah and Justice K. Suri Appa Rao directed the respondents in the writ petition wherein the issue of alleged amassing of wealth by former MP Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy came up before the court, to file counter affidavits by March14.
The respondents said that they would file counter affidavit regarding the maintainability of the case, but not on merits.
In November 2010, Mr. Shankar Rao had levelled allegations about the activities of the companies like Jagati Publications which publishes Saakshi, Telugu daily.