india

Updated: Apr 11, 2020 14:29 IST

Former judge of Madras High Court V Kanagaraj was on Saturday appointed as the election commissioner of Andhra Pradesh in place of retired bureaucrat N Ramesh Kumar, who was removed from the post by the state government through an ordinance on Friday evening.

Kanagaraj, 75, assumed charge within hours of his appointment in the state election commission thereby pre-empting his predecessor from moving the court challenging his removal.

The Jaganmohan Reddy government on Friday promulgated an ordinance amending the AP Panchayat Raj Act seeking to reduce the term of state election commissioner from five years to three years.

It also proposed that the election commissioner would be a judicial officer of a high court judge rank. The ordinance would be replaced by a bill in the next assembly session.

A government order issued late in the night declared that Ramesh Kumar, who assumed charge as SEC on April 1, 2016, ceased to continue as SEC, as he had completed four years in service.

Kanagaraj served as a judge of Madras High Court for nine years from February 24, 1997, and after his retirement, he had been working as a senior advocate in the Supreme Court.

According to an official release from the chief minister’s office, Kanagaraj delivered several landmark judgements both in Madras and Madurai benches of the high court.

The judgements covered various subjects of national importance such as education, social justice with special reference to women and children, weaker sections and minorities.

He was also nominated to the syndicate and senate of Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University. He was also engaged as a senior counsel in a number of cases by Tamil Nadu and Puducherry governments.

The sudden removal of Ramesh Kumar from the post of SEC through an ordinance incurred the criticism of the opposition parties.

They alleged that the chief minister had developed a personal grudge against Ramesh Kumar for postponing the elections to urban and rural local body scheduled to be held in the last week of March in the wake of the coronavirus threat.

Jagan Reddy had also objected to SEC ordering the transfer of two collectors and superintendents of police, besides disciplinary action against police officials in Macherla and some other parts of the state for alleged malpractices during the nomination process.

He alleged that Ramesh Kumar was indirectly favouring the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led by N Chandrababu Naidu as both belonged to the same caste.

Subsequently, Ramesh Kumar wrote to the Centre seeking additional security to him and his family, as he alleged there was a threat to his life from the ruling party leaders.

The high court and the Supreme Court upheld Ramesh Kumar’s decision to postpone the elections because of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the top court relaxed the poll code until the announcement of the next schedule.