Will Governor Reinstate Nimmagadda As SEC?

[Anta Assamey]

The Andhra Pradesh high court, which has been very keen on reinstating retired IAS officer Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar as the State Election Commissioner (SEC), on Friday fumed at the Jagan Mohan Reddy government for not following its earlier order on his reinstatement.

Hearing a contempt of court petition filed by Nimmagadda against the state government, the high court asked him to make a representation to Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan for his reinstatement. 

“Convey the high court orders to the Governor and ask him to issue orders reinstating you as the SEC. The Governor has every right to appoint the SEC as per the court orders,” the high court told Nimmagadda.

The former SEC’s counsel Aswani Kumar brought to the notice of the high court that the Supreme Court had refused three times to grant stay on the high court order on reinstatement of Nimmagadda.

“Since the SC has not granted any stay, our earlier judgement given by the high court stands valid and the government has to follow the same,” the high court said.

The case was further posted to next Friday. The high court asked the state government to file a counter, if any, by that time.