Telangana High Court on Friday adjourned to January 24 the two writ petitions filed by Dasoju Sravan Kumar and Kurra Satyanarayana seeking to quash the orders passed by Telangana Governor rejecting their nomination for MLCs under Governor Quota.
A bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Surepalli Nanda adjourned the hearing after the senior counsel appearing for the Governor’s Secretary sought time to file an objection over maintainability of the writ petitions. The bench observed that Advocate General A. Sudarshan Reddy may also file objections if advised so by the government.
Mr. Kumar and Mr. Satyanarayana filed the pleas challenging the orders issued by the Governor on September 19, 2023, rejecting their nominations as MLCs exercising powers under Article 171 (5) of the Constitution. The counsels appearing for the petitioners contended that the Governor cannot reject the nominations made by the Council of Ministers for appointment as MLCs.
They cited the decisions of different courts in similar matters. However, the Governor Secretary’s counsel argued that the petitions cannot be maintained due to the bar contained in Article 361 of the Constitution of India. Describing rejection of their nominations as unconstitutional and beyond jurisdiction of the Governor, the petitioners requested the HC to pass orders quashing the orders.
The Governor was bound to accept the nominations made by the Council of Ministers and the Chief Minister, they said in their petitions.
