The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday refused to stay the shifting of the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) and Lokayukta to Kurnool, and posted the matter for five weeks from now.
Advocate-General Subrahmanayam Sriram told the court that the government had filed a counter in response to a petition filed in a similar nature earlier. The government had already issued a gazette notification, and the Lokayukta and SHRC were functioning from Kurnool. Both the institutions remained in Hyderabad after bifurcation of combined Andhra Pradesh. The investigative rules of Lokayukta were notified in Hyderabad, the rules had to be amended.
The SHRC was on mere paper and notification was issued in 2017. The present government rectified these matters, he said.
Soma Raju, a Tadepalligudem-based advocate, filed a Public Interest Litigation petition in the High Court praying for shifting of the office of the institutions of Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayukta from Hyderabad to the Roads and Buildings (R&B) buildings in Vijayawada without further delay.
