HC Upset With High Spending On CS' Legal Expenses

The Telangana High Court today heard a case filed by a lecturer challenging the decision of the state government to sanction "crores of rupees" to help its top officials fight contempt of court cases filed against them.

In his petition, the lecturer told the court that the KCR government had sanctioned a whopping Rs 58 crore to help Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar fund the expenses of dealing with 290 contempt of court cases filed against him.

Responding to the petition, a division bench, comprising Telangana Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy, asked the government why such a massive amount of money had been sanctioned for the aforementioned purpose.

Further, it asked the government to submit a report on how public money was being spent that also contained the rules on the basis of which the state's treasury department was sanctioning public expenditure funds.

The bench issued notices to the revenue and finance departments secretaries, the Chief Commissioner Of Land Administration, and the state director of the treasuries department. They were told to file their counters in the case. A notice was also issued to the CS.

The HC then adjourned the hearing of the case till October 27.

Today's hearing comes days after the state's apex court sentenced several top government officials, including the Rangareddy collector, the top conservator of forests and four other officials, to six months in jail for "disregarding its directions".