The Telangana government today urged the state's high court to withdraw the stay orders issued by the latter on the release of funds that are reportedly to be used to finance Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar's legal expenses.
Kumar, who reportedly has 290 contempt of court cases filed against him, informed the HC that the state government had issued the orders for the release of Rs 58 crore to pay compensations to the people whose lands had been acquired for public projects and not to finance legal expense.
The CS also said that the petitioner who had raised the issue had "misled" the court, and that the state government was not able to present the actual facts during
yesterday's hearing on the matter.
After Kumar made these statements, Advocate General B S Prasad urged the HC to take up an urgent hearing to address the matter.
Meanwhile, a division bench expressed its surprise over the manner in which the GO ordering the release of the funds was written. It asked the government about the main objective of the GO and the confusing language used in it, pointing out that the wording had conveyed the meaning that the funds were to be used to meet the expenditures of fighting the contempt of court cases against Kumar.
The HC later adjourned the case till Monday (August 8).
Addressing another issue, the state's apex court today asked the TRS government to take a permanent decision about the permissibility of the immersion of Ganesh idols in Hussain Sagar Lake.
A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy, passed this order while dealing with a petition filed by advocate Venu Madhav.
The petitioner told the bench that the government, citing the threat of the spread of Covid-19, had not permitted the immersion of idols in the lake last year.
Responding to this, Kohli and Reddy asked the government if it would permit immersions this year, and directed the government to take a decision after taking into consideration the intensity of the pandemic at the current time.
They also pointed out that it was "not a good idea" to take spontaneous decisions on the issue every year, and said that it was the responsibility of the government to keep the lake clean and pollution-free.
The next hearing on the matter will be held on August 11.