Telangana state high court on Thursday quashed the order of Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan rejecting the nomination of two Bharat Rashtra Samithi leaders Dasoju Sravan Kumar and Kurra Satyanarayana under Governor’s quota.
A division bench of the state high court comprising chief justice Alok Aradhe and justice Jukanti Anil Kumar also set aside the nomination of Telangana Jana Samithi president Prof M Kodandaram and senior Urdu journalist Amer Ali Khan as MLCs under the Governor’s quota.
Sravan Kumar and Satyanarayana were nominated as MLCs by the previous K Chandrasekhar Rao government but Tamilisai did not take any decision for a long time. After the BRS lost power to the Congress, she rejected the nomination of these two MLCs.
Later, the Revanth Reddy government recommended the names of Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan for the MLC posts under the Governor quota and she readily accepted the same.
Challenging the fresh appointments, Dasoju went to the high court arguing that the Governor had no right to reject their names which were recommended by the state cabinet.
The high court bench held that the Governor was bound by the advice of the Council of Ministers. The Governor can only remit the matter back to the Council of Ministers for reconsideration, the Bench said.
However, it is open for the Governor to examine the issues of eligibility or disqualification of a person recommended by the cabinet.
The governor can remit the matter to the cabinet again seeking either to furnish requisite documents/information or for re-consideration of the recommendation made by the cabinet, the high court bench said.
Now, the question is whether the judgement would be of any use to Sravan or Satyanarayana. The Governor will now refer the matter to the state cabinet which is headed by Revanth Reddy.
The cabinet will make fresh resolution recommending the names of Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan again and Tamilisai will accept them. So, technically, Sravan might have won the case, but it will not help him become an MLC!