Andhra Pradesh govt moves SC against HC decision quashing ordinance curtailing tenure of SEC

Challenging the order of the High Court striking down an ordinance curtailing the tenure of the State Election Commissioner (SEC) from five to three years, the Andhra Pradesh government has moved the Supreme Court.

New Delhi: The Andhra Pradesh government has moved the Supreme Court challenging the order of the High Court striking down an ordinance curtailing the tenure of the State Election Commissioner (SEC) from five to three years.

The appeal filed by state government against the May 29 order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court is scheduled to be taken up for hearing on Wednesday by a bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy.

On May 29, the High Court had struck down the Ordinance promulgated on April 10 by the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government, curtailing the tenure of the SEC from five to three years.

The High Court had also quashed a Government Order appointing retired judge V Kanagaraj as the new SEC and restored retired bureaucrat Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar as chief of the State poll panel.

Justice V Kanagaraj, a retired judge of the Madras High Court, had assumed charge as the SEC on April 11, replacing Ramesh Kumar.

The High Court had delivered the judgment on a batch of writ petitions, including the one by Ramesh Kumar, challenging the Ordinance and the appointment of a new SEC.

The YSR Congress government had on April 10 abruptly removed Ramesh Kumar from the post by promulgating the ordinance, amending the AP Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, curtailing the tenure of the SEC to three years from five. taking up preventive measures to avert untoward incidents.

(PTI)