AP high court in its recent verdict pronounced that election held to the post of president of AP Pharmacy Council (APPC) on March 31, 2011 was illegal and invalid. Dismissing the petitions filed by Annapa Reddy, Justice Samudrala Govindarajula said that conducting elections for the post of president of the council when there was a stay order in force is illegal. Further, the court had directed the government and concerned officials to have a detailed inquiry into the circumstances and initiate appropriate action against the president and the council members.
Earlier Annapa Reddy had claimed to be the president of APPC, but as the election was held ignoring the stay order by the court and subsequently by the state government, his election to the post of president stands null.
According to the sources, the earlier president of APPC Venkat Reddy, filed a petition in the court alleging that the present president Annapa R Vijay Reddy and the then registrar Satyanarayana had connived each other and violated the rules and norms and had gone against the council’s act and conducted mid-term elections fraudulently for the president’s post, even before the tenure of Venkat Reddy is yet to be completed in the year 2013. Following this, the court had given a stay order and directed the government to conduct an enquiry in to the matter and submit a report before it.
The government had contended in its petition that the earlier president Venkat Reddy who was elected as president in 2009 had resigned his post on March 28, 2011 but later Venkat Reddy claimed that his resignation letter was forged and requested the government to ignore the letter of his resignation and let him continue till his tenure is completed. But the government having understood the internal fighting between the two parties (Annapa Reddy and Venkat Reddy) it did not entertain this and directed the Project director AP state Aids control society to take charge of affairs of the council along with the check power.
While this was the prevailing situation Annapa Reddy claimed to be the president of council. In his petition he contended that he be allowed to carry on his duties peacefully without government's interference as he was elected as president in a meeting held on March 31, 2011. But according to the norms, before conducting any election, it is normal practice to give notice to the government. Since members have not intimated to the government, his election is invalid. Moreover since the members have ignored the courts stay earlier, the judge dismissed both the petitions by Annapa Reddy and Vijay Bhasker Reddy.
The court observed that according to section 24 of the council’s Act any dispute arising with regard to election, it shall be referred to state government whose decision shall be final.
With this final judgement, both the candidates claiming for the president’s post have been ousted and the council is carrying out its normal course of activities under the in-charge registrar K V S N Gupta appointed by the government.