Hyderabad: Telangana Backwards Classes Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar on Monday, August 17, said the government will continue the Shaadi Mubarak and Kalyan Lakshmi schemes.
Reacting to the High Court’s stay order on the schemes, the minister said, “The Congress government has no intention of scrapping Kalyan Lakshmi and Shaadi Mubarak schemes. The budget for these schemes for the current fiscal has already been allocated and approved by the Assembly.”
He said the government will appeal before the division bench of the High Court seeking to have the stay vacated and continue the implementation of the schemes. Prabhakar alleged that the Government Orders (GOs) issued by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government lacked legal protection.
The minister said the government is also examining the reasons for the delay in the matter. Authorities are looking into whether the lapse was due to legal procedural issues or negligence on the part of officials concerned.
“The court had stayed the operation of eight GOs governing the Kalyan Lakshmi and Shaadi Mubarak schemes and posted the case for September 9. But a counter is being filed much before September 9 to ensure that the schemes continue,” he said.
Telangana HC stays schemes
The minister’s reaction came days after the High Court stayed the Shaadi Mubarak and Kalyan Lakshmi schemes on August 12.
The court was hearing a petition challenging the legality of the schemes. The petitioner, advocate Vijay Gopal, argued that the schemes were being implemented through Government Orders that were not backed by any law enacted by the state legislature.
The High Court directed that no payments be made under the schemes until the next hearing.
In a previous hearing, the High Court had directed the Telangana government to file a counter-affidavit. Reports suggest that Vijay Gopal brought to the court’s attention that the government had failed to file the counter-affidavit even after four weeks.
However, when the state again sought additional time, the court passed the interim order and adjourned the matter by four weeks. The next hearing is scheduled for September 9.
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