Telangana HC Directs KCR Govt To Conduct Republic Day Event at Parade Grounds

HYDERABAD: The ruling BRS government received a setback after the Telangana High Court directed the KCR-led Government to conduct the Republic Day celebrations in the state. The High Court issued an interim order on Wednesday in a writ petition filed over the  Republic Day celebrations. The HC made it clear that the celebrations must be held by the Government officially.

The High Court in its directions stated that a parade should also be conducted as part of the event. Where the parade should be conducted must be decided by the Government, it said.

A writ petition was filed during a lunch motion in the High Court over the Telangana government not conducting the event even after a circular was issued by the Central Government directing state governments to conduct the event with students. A Bench headed by Justice P Madhavi Devi in her observations rapped the State Government for using COVID-19 as an excuse to not conduct the event.

The High Court also ordered that the Telangana government should follow the guidelines issued by the Center with regard to the celebrations. Since there is just a day left the High Court has also directed government officials to speed up the arrangements for the Republic Day celebrations to be held tomorrow (Thursday).

As per tradition, the Republic Day event is conducted with both the Governor and Chief Minister attending it at the Parade Grounds in the city every year. However, due to the strained relations between the BRS Government led by CM KCR and Telangana Government Tamilisai Soundararajan, there was no news about the Republic day event being held this year. It was reported that the Telangana Governor would hoist the national flag at Raj Bhavan on Thursday. On January 19, the Governor alleged that protocol is not being followed and that she did not receive any communication from the government on conducting the  Republic Day event which brought to light that there was no event being held in the city. Following this, a writ petition was filed in the Telangana High Court seeking directions to conduct the national event tomorrow. It needs to be seen how the Telangana government would expedite the arrangements for the Republic Day event at Parade Grounds.

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