HC: Congress MLA Seethakka accuses KCR govt of blocking development funds for Mulugu

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Friday asked the state government to respond to the petition filed by MLA Seethakka of the Mulugu constituency, who contended that the Telangana State government has not sanctioned her the requisite budget under the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) because she belongs to the Congress Party and has Naxal background. The High Court gave two weeks for the state to respond.

The counsel for the petitioner informed the court that the tenure of the existing MLAs ends by January 2024 and the funds which were to be allotted to the MLAs under the CDF will also get lapsed in view of the ensuing general elections.

The counsel further stated that the state government has enhanced the CDF to each constituency by Rs 5 crores but has sanctioned a paltry budget to the Mulugu constituency.

The Mulugu and Mahabubabad districts comprise seven mandals: Etmagaram, Govindaraopet, Kannaigudem, Mangapet, Mulugu, Tadvai and Venkatapur and due to the non-approval of the budget for the districts, people in the district have been deprived of developmental works, the counsel said.

The counsel for the petitioner also sought suspension of GO No 12 of the Planning (VII) Department issued on July 2, 2021, and GO No 14 issued on July 3, through which the state government has authorised the minister concerned to approve the budget proposals pertaining to the constituency under the CDF.

After listening to the arguments, Harender Prasad, a special government pleader, sought two weeks to file a counter affidavit. The court agreed.

Justice Chillakur Sumalatha issued notices to the chief secretary, principal secretary, planning department, principal secretary, finance department, principal secretary of roads and buildings, collector of the Mulugu district and Satyavathi Rathod, minister for Tribal Welfare, Women and Child Welfare.

The next hearing in the case will be on October 9.

The petitioner’s counsel further informed the court that a similar writ petition is pending before the High Court filed by BJP MLA Raghundandan Rao, regarding a similar issue. The counsel said that though the collector has approved the developmental works sent by the petitioner, the minister concerned Satyavathi Rathod, intentionally has not approved any developmental works for the constituency.