The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea challenging the appointment of Justice NV Ramana as a judge of Andhra Pradesh high court.
The judgement came in a public interest litigation alleging that Justice Ramana was ineligible for the post on the ground that a criminal case was pending against him at the time of his elevation to the bench.
A bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam also imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on the petitioner who had sought quashing of appointment of the judge.
The court passed the order on the PIL filed by one M Manohar Reddy who had alleged that appointment of Justice Ramana was unconstitutional and illegal.
The PIL was filed on the basis of a report in Sakshi newspaper, which claimed that Justice Ramana had concealed that he was facing a criminal case against him.
The petitioner had alleged that Justice Ramana, at the time of his appointment, was a proclaimed offender in a case of rioting and destruction of public property in 1981 when he was a student of Nagarjuna University.
Justice Ramana was elevated as permanent judge of the Andhra Pradesh high court on June 27, 2000. He was earlier the Additional Advocate General in AP High Court.
