Telangana High Court questions ACB over communication on KTR’s passport

By Legal Correspondent

Hyderabad: Justice E.V. Venugopal of the Telangana High Court on Tuesday questioned the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) over its communication to the Regional Passport Officer (RPO) regarding the alleged involvement of BRS working president and Sircilla MLA K.T. Rama Rao (KTR) in the Formula E case. The Judge sought to know why the agency had communicated with the passport authorities after filing a charge sheet, when the matter was pending before the trial court.

The Court was hearing a writ petition filed by KTR challenging a show-cause notice issued by the RPO on September 28, seeking an explanation as to why his passport should not be impounded, and subsequent proceedings initiated on October 13. KTR sought a stay on the proceedings.

During the hearing, the Judge questioned the need for the ACB to inform the passport authorities about the criminal case after completing the investigation and filing the charge sheet. The Court also sought clarification on whether the ACB had filed a memo before the Special ACB Court seeking the impounding of KTR’s passport.

The Judge directed the ACB’s standing counsel to provide details of the communication and adjourned the matter for further hearing in the afternoon.

Appearing for the Regional Passport Office, Additional Solicitor General Narasimha Sharma submitted that no final order had been passed to impound KTR’s passport. He stated that the Passports Act provided an opportunity to challenge the proceedings and that KTR had also been permitted to appear in person before the passport authorities to explain his position, following his requests.

After hearing the submissions, the Court declined to grant a stay on the proceedings but directed the parties to maintain status quo with regard to the impugned notices.

The Court issued notices to the Central Government, the Regional Passport Officer and the ACB. The matter was adjourned to November 6, with directions to the respondents to file their counter-affidavits by then.