Appointment of govt advisors not a good tradition, says AP HC

AMARAVATI: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday made critical comments on the practice of appointing advisors for the State Government, saying that it was not a good tradition. The High Court expressed its opinion while hearing a petition filed by AP Seva Brahmana Sangha Samakhya spokesperson HK Rajasekhar Rao challenging the appointment of advisors to the Endowment department and on employees affairs.

The High Court also pulled up the petitioner for bringing political matters to the judiciary for its intervention. In an attempt to discourage this tendency, the High Court also warned of taking severe action if petitions were filed on petty political issues.

Defending the State Government position on this during the hearing, Advocate General S Sriram told the High Court that only experienced persons were appointed as advisors to the government.

In his arguments, the AG told the High Court that the government would elicit the opinion of the appointees before taking a final decision on the appointment of advisors and made it clear that this was not a new practice. He said that he would argue the case based on its merits.

However, the court expressed displeasure and questioned the AG as to how a government advisor could decide on matters like the TA and DA of employees. It maintained that the appointment of advisors was not a good tradition.

It is known that the Andhra Pradesh government led by Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy has, in the past, appointed Jwalapurapu Srikanth as the advisor to the Endowment department and Chandrasekhar Reddy as the advisor to the government on employee issues.