Andhra advocate general says official returning to post not in accordance with HC judgment
May 30, 2020
Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) [India], May 30 : A day after Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar resumed the office of Andhra Pradesh State Election Commissioner (SEC) following the Andhra Pradesh High Court order, state Advocate General Sriram Subrahmanyam on Saturday said Kumar's action of returning to the office of SEC is not in accordance with HC judgment.
"Yesterday Andhra Pradesh High Court gave its order in SEC matter. I got judgment copy at 3 pm today. Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar circulated a memo to various government officers at 3.30 pm yesterday that he has been restored as SEC. That is a self-declaration. I looked at whether the ruling of the High Court allowed for self-declaratory restoration as attempted by Kumar and I found out that the High Court did not use sentences for self-declaratory restoration. It said that there has to be a follow-up action in the manner and directed the state to restore the office of Ramesh Kumar, which involves notice and set procedure. This is not in accordance with HC judgment," Subrahmanyam told reporters here.
He alleged that Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar directed SEC office personnel to send the vehicles of SEC to his Hyderabad office.
"The High Court verdict directed the state government to restore Ramesh Kumar as the SEC. We have applied for stay of the order and gave its copy to the advocate of Ramesh Kumar. State government asked my opinion and I told that they have to go to the Supreme Court. This morning Ramesh Kumar called on Prabhakar, the standing counsel for SEC and asked him to resign. Further, Ramesh said he wanted to infuse new blood . Prabhakar asked him for some time but Ramesh denied as he wants to have new standing counsel from June 1. These actions of Ramesh Kumar do not stand (in accordance) with the HC judgment," he said.
Ramesh Kumar resumed the office of Andhra Pradesh State Election Commissioner on Friday soon after the Andhra Pradesh High Court ordered the state government to reinstate him.
The division bench of the High Court, headed by its Chief Justice J K Maheshwari, cancelled the ordinance brought by the government changing the rules of appointment of State Election Commissioner stating that the state government has no power to do so.
