Hyderabad: Congress demands removal of Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar

Hyderabad: Telangana Congress leader and AICC spokesperson Dr Dasoju Sravan Kumar on Wednesday demanded Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to immediately remove State Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar from the post as the High Court had given a judgment finding fault with the government for issuing the GO No 208 (dated June 7, 2021) allotting a sum of nearly Rs 60 crore from the State exchequer to enable State bureaucrats fight contempt cases in Telangana High Court.

Welcoming the judgment, Sravan said, "The High Court judgment over GO No 208 is a slap in the face of the government as well as the bureaucrats working with the Telangana government.

The HC has directed the government not to release the money." He further flayed the TRS government for issuing the order allowing the Chief Secretary to spend Rs 58.95 crore to exclusively fight contempt cases filed predominantly against him.

"The Telangana government was facing mounting debts worth Rs 4 lakhs. On the other hand, State Finance Minister T Harish Rao, during the GST council held recently, said that they suffered Rs 4,400 crore revenue loss due to Covid-19. But why is the government wasting money? It has purchased KIA cars at the cost of Rs 11 to 12 crore. This is not good for democracy," he said and added that the wrongdoings of the bureaucrats should not be encouraged by the government by paying the court fees.