AP HC Strikes Down Government Ordinance Removing SEC Ramesh Kumar

In a major setback to the state government, the AP High Court today struck down AP Panchayat Raj (Second Amendment) Ordinance No 5 of 2020 and the subsequent three GOs (GOs 617, 618 and 619) issued by the government to remove the incumbent State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar from his post.

A division bench comprising the Chief Justice of the state J K Maheswari and Justice M Satyanarayana Murthy directed the government to reinstate Ramesh Kumar as SEC with immediate effect.

The verdict of the HC has also led to the exit of Madras High Court retired judge Justice V Kanagaraj who was appointed as the SEC soon by the state government after the unceremonial expulsion of Ramesh Kumar.

The division bench made it clear to the state government that it did not have the powers to issue the ordinance in the issue under Article 213 of Indian constitution.

Former minister and state BJP leader Kamineni Srinivas expressed his happiness over the verdict of the court, and said that the judgement of the HC had increased the confidence of the people in the Indian judiciary.

He said that his party had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the court on the issue after holding discussions with the top leaders of the party.

He said that there was a solution for any kind of problem in the realm of constitutional system.

Targeting CM Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, he alleged that the CM was working with a personal agenda in the issue.