Andhra Pradesh government’s advocate general Subrahmanyam Sriram on Friday expressed displeasure over the state high court entertaining the public interest litigation petitions filed by the benamis of TDP and media houses supporting the opposition party.
Sriram was presenting his arguments in the high court on PIL filed by one Kilaru Naga Sravan from Vijayawada regarding advertisements given to the media houses and also usage of ruling YSRC party colours in the advertisements.
The petitioner alleged that Sakshi media house, owned by ruling YSRC president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and his family was being given unfairly high advertisements.
The Advocate General alleged that the petitioner was a benami for TDP and Andhra Jyothy and had filed the PIL without disclosing his full credentials.
“PILs are about the purity of the process of the court and not for benamis and ghosts to abuse,” he said.
Sriram argued that the petitioner had suppressed the facts that between 2014 and 2019, Eenadu and Andhra Jyothi had gained all the advertisements disproportionately.
“The petitioner was perhaps a beneficiary of all these and now comes to fight for Andhra Jyothi and the TDP in court by giving half-baked figures,” he alleged.
He said files which didn't go to the chief minister and were decided by the Information and Public Relations Commissioner were aggravated and presented in the court.
The AG pointed out that the petitioner had mourned the loss of TDP in the elections and said: Battle is lost. But war is to be won.
“They want to win the war by filing such false affidavits in court for Andhra Jyothy and TDP,” he said.
The bench agreed with the submission of the AG that he would file preliminary objections on the maintainability of PIL at the instance of benamis and ghosts of TDP and Andhra Jyothy, before filing the counter on merits of the case.
It permitted him to file the objections and said it would decide on the objections and adjourned the case by two weeks for the counter to be filed.
