The Telangana High Court on Wednesday ordered notices to the Principal Home Secretary and the Director General of Police in a PIL petition which stated that police were depriving people of right to protest by not permitting demonstrations, public meetings and rallies.
A division bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A. Abhishek Reddy passed the direction after hearing a plea filed by a retired IAS officer and another person stating that police were imposing unreasonable restrictions on public meetings and deliberately delaying according permissions to public meetings.
The bench directed the Home Secretary and the Director General of Police to file a detailed counter affidavit on the matter in three weeks.
In a related development, Justice T. Vinod Kumar of the High Court on Wednesday asked the Principal Home Secretary and the DGP to frame guidelines over permitting public meetings, rallies and protest programmes.
While hearing a writ petition filed by Raza-E-Ilahi Foundation seeking direction to police to permit a Mushaira programme being organised by it protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act, the judge observed that of late several petitions seeking judicial intervention over permitting meetings are being filed.
Observation homes
The division bench issued notices to Chief Secretary, Principal Secretaries of Home and Women and Child Welfare, Director General of Prisons and others to place before it a report on the condition of observation homes in the State.
The bench passed the direction while hearing a PIL plea on the facilities and conditions of homes for children and observation homes in Karimnagar district.
The Karimnagar District Sessions Court Judge earlier wrote a letter on this matter. The letter was taken up as PIL petition by the bench. A senior lawyer brought to the notice of the bench that petitions with similar content were earlier heard by the High Court and that senior lawyer D. Prakash Reddy was appointed amicus curiae in those matters. The bench instructed the High Court registry to tag the PIL plea with those petitions. The matter was posted to April 15 for next hearing.
Lake construction works
Responding to a PIL plea on construction works undertaken in Full Tank Level areas of Hussainsagar, the division bench instructed the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary of Municipal Administration, Commissioners of GHMC and HMDA to file a detailed counter affidavit on the matter.
The Pollution Control Board, HMWS&SB and Hyderabad District Collector were also made parties in the petition.
The High Court received a letter stating a road is being laid in the vicinity of Hussainsagar and that this would affect storm water drainage and other civic systems in the city.
The bench took up the letter as PIL petition and passed the direction. It appointed senior lawyer L. Ravi Chander as amicus curiae in the plea and asked him to physically verify the area and present a report.
The matter was posted to April 1 for next hearing.
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