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Tuesday, Oct 20, 2009
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Free zone: State to go ahead with review petition in Supreme Court

Special Correspondent

Barring TRS and Lok Satta, all parties support government’s stand on the issue

— Photo: P.V. Sivakumar

Key issue: Opposition leaders coming out after participating in the all-party meeting on the issue of Hyderabad as free zone, on Monday.

HYDERABAD: After eliciting the views of all the major political parties at a meeting here on Monday, the State government decided to go ahead with its proposal to file a review petition in the Supreme Court on the judgement of the Division Bench treating Hyderabad as a free zone with regard to recruitments in the Police Department.

Barring the TRS and Lok Satta, all parties supported the government’s stand on the ground that any effort to uphold the spirit of the Presidential Order and the subsequent Six-Point formula must be backed. The parties which identified themselves with this view at the meeting chaired by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah were the TDP, Congress, CPI(M), CPI, BJP, MIM and Praja Rajyam.

TRS stand

On its part, the TRS, which was represented the party chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao, took the line that a review petition would be of no use as the apex court had already expressed its view on the matter.

He suggested that an Assembly session should be convened to adopt a resolution opposing declaration of Hyderabad as a “free zone”. Mr. Rao has threatened to table a no-confidence motion against the Rosaiah Government on the issue.

Lok Satta chief N. Jayaprakash Narayan said the Supreme Court did not use the word “free zone” in its judgment, which, however, was in line with the Presidential Order. He contended that the review petition was not justified and the government should ensure strict implementation of GO 610.

Speaking to reporters later, Home Minister P. Sabitha Indra Reddy, who heads a committee overseeing implementation of GO 610, said the Supreme Court had indeed used the word “free zone” in reference to police recruitments in Hyderabad zone. As suggested by the Opposition, a senior advocate would be appointed to argue the State’s case in the Supreme Court, she added.

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