The Hyderabad High Court issued a notice to Giddalur MLA Ashok Reddy, questioning the withdrawal of a criminal case against him, sanctioned by the Andhra Pradesh government.
This comes one week after the court pulled up the TDP government, and asked it to explain the issuing of Government Order (GO) 379, which ordered for the withdrawal of the criminal case against the legislator.
The court was hearing a PIL by Sheik Mastan Vali, who contented that the case should not be withdrawn with a GO, as the MLA was an accused in a case of burning a police jeep.
On Monday, a bench comprising of acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and justice J Uma Devi, was told by the Andhra government that the competent criminal court has to pass the final orders closing the case, which was due to come up for hearing on September 4, the Times of India reported.
The petitioner's counsel had earlier also questioned the timing of the GO, as the legislator was elected on a YSRCP ticket and the case was dropped after he switched over to the TDP.
The court was earlier informed by the state's counsel that the case was not serious, as he was fighting against the alleged illegal detention of a person in a police station, when the person came out and collapsed, dying of a heart attack.
This led to a massive reaction from the crowd that had gathered, and protesters burnt a police jeep. The police booked the legislator, as he was leading the crowd, before the violence burst out, the counsel claimed.
Issuing a notice to the legislator, the court postponed the case for three weeks.