Yet another violation of the Supreme Court order by the YCP Government came up for hearing in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh. The HC heard the arguments of both the sides and scrapped the GO already issued without following the Supreme Court order. The court ordered the AP Government to issue a new GO with Opposition Leader N Chandrababu Naidu’s name included in the State Security Commission (SSC). The HC rejected the State Government’s arguments and just said that non-inclusion of Opposition Leader’s name in the panel was in gross violation of the Supreme Court order.
The High Court also ordered the AP Government to issue the new GO within a month’s time. As such, the HC posted the next hearing on the case after four weeks.
The Supreme Court ordered in the past that the SSCs should be constituted in all States for ensuring unbiased and accountable policing. The Commissions were expected to act buffers between the political executive and the police. This was aimed at making the political executive responsible in allowing the police to work with accountability. Only for this purpose, the Opposition Leaders in the respective States were also included on the Commissions.
However, the Jagan Reddy regime issued the GO without including Mr. Chandrababu Naidu’s name on the Commission.
As per the SC order, the Commission should consist of Chief Minister or Home Minister as Chairperson, DGP as ex officio secretary, Opposition Leader, Chief Secretary, a retired judge nominated by the Chief Justice of High Court, and up to five non-political independent members.