Hyderabad high court had given final chance to Telangana government to file a counter against petitions challenging the government’s decision to sanction Rs 15 lakh to IAS officer Smitha Sabarwal for filing a defamation case against Outlook Magazine and scribes for publishing a news item and a cartoon which was allegedly aimed at her.
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Outlook management and two other individuals filed public interest petitions challenging the decision of the state in this regard terming this as wastage of public money. The state was already given twice to file the counter. On Monday when the case came to hearing, the state government’s counsel Mahender Reddy again sought time.
The bench of Acting CJ Dilip B Bhosale and Justice S V Bhatt expressed its disapproval over the attitude of the state and directed it to file its counter within three weeks from now. Looks like the state government is struggling for answers in this case and is trying to delay the proceedings.
