In a setback to Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Andhra Pradesh High Court issued stay orders on the appointment of J.Srikanth as the advisor for the endowments department.
The orders were issued by the division bench of Justice Somayajulu and Justice Prashanth Kumar Misra after hearing to petitions questioning the GO related to Srikanth’s appointment.
It is worth noting that the appointment of numerous advisors to the state government and various departments has been drawing criticism from both the opposition parties and the public.
The advisors are taking home huge pay packages and enjoying several government emoluments, the expenditure of which is being borne by the public. However, several policy decisions and petitions filed by the AP state government had been questioned and dismissed by the High Court. The court has faulted the YCP government on several occasions like introduction of English medium teaching in primary schools, appointment of Retired Justice Kanagaraj as the Chief Election Commissioner of the state, sale of TTD lands, trifurcation of the capital, etc.
The court admonished the state government on various issues raising questions on what have been these advisors doing without being the guiding light to the officials, while taking salaries for doing that work.
Of late, several cases of graft in the endowments department also surfaced and many of them have reached the courts too.