Summary:
The bench said the petition will be heard separately. Vijayawada: The state government on Wednesday moved the AP high court against the Election Commission’s decision to transfer AB Venkateswara Rao, director general ( intelligence ), A Venkata Ratnam, Srikakulam SP, and Rahul Dev Sharma, Kadapa SP.In its lunch motion petition, the government argued that the EC did not have jurisdiction to transfer director general (intelligence), as he was not involved in poll duties.Advocate general Dammalapati Srinivas said the director general (intelligence) was not a designated officer under Section 28A of Representation of People Act, 1951.The same was intimated in reply to the EC’s March 15 letter in which it had asked chief secretaries of all states to send the list of designated officers, he argued.The AG argued that if the ECI received any complaint against any officer on poll duty, the ECI ought to have called for a clarification either from the state government or from the officers concerned.As no clarification was sought from the officers, the ECI order was in violation of the principles of natural justice and was liable to be set aside, argued the AG.The HC bench, headed by Chief Justice C Praveen Kumar, asked the government to file a fresh affidavit with relevant documents stating that the director general, intelligence, was not involved in poll duties.The HC also asked the ECI to file its reply and has posted the case for further hearing on Thursday.Meanwhile, YSRC has filed an implead petition in the matter..