HYDERABAD: A division bench of the AP High Court comprising Justice VVS Rao and Justice Ramesh Ranganathan on Wednesday upheld the constitutional validity of the Entries of Motor Vehicles into Local Areas Act. Section 3 of the Act empowers the state government to impose tax on motor vehicles being used in the state.The bench was dealing with a batch of 37 writ petitions filed by Kesoram Cements and others challenging the validity of the Act.They contended that the law was a veiled attempt to collect tax on inter-state movement of goods and a similar enactment in the Entry of Goods was earlier quashed by the court.The state defended the action as being well within the prescriptions under the constitution and said that as long as the imposition was not discriminatory, it did not warrant judicial scrutiny.The petitioners were mostly contractors who also contended that vehicles such as bulldozers were not motor vehicles and thus should be exempted from the provision.In this context, the bench set aside the assessment orders but said that it was not for the High Court to decide whether a vehicle was a motor vehicle or not.Explain liberalisation of maize imports: HCJustice G Rohini of the AP High Court on Wednesday granted time till July 7 to the Central government to explain its stance on the import of Popcorn maize.A writ petition was filed by Sriven Marketing, an enterprise that engages farmers to grow the special variety of maize, in which they pointed out that maize was being grown in abundance in the districts of Karimnagar, Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad.The present policy, liberalising the import of maize, was not in the national interest and could jeopardise the economic welfare of local farmers. The petitioner pointed out that the government had earlier levied 60% excise duty and then reduced it to 15% and now has totally abolished the levy.The public purpose stated in the notification by the central government in May was challenged as arbitrary and unjust.Court sets free two detained for land grabbingA division bench of the AP High Court comprising Justice A Gopal Reddy and Justice Raja Elango on Wednesday set at liberty two tribal residents of Khammam district - Bhukya Veerabhadram and Ramlal - who were detained under the preventive detention law.The government had passed orders and detained them from December 2010 on the ground that they had grabbed lands of tribals. The wives of the two had filed habeas corpus writ petitions complaining that the detention was illegal.The bench found that the government did not have sufficient material to conclude that they were offenders and directed that they be set free.Parents Called in Court in Visitation Rights CaseJustice KC Bhanu of the AP High court directed the presence of Shravanti, daughter of cine actor Jamuna, and her husband Rahul Reddy, to sort out the visitation rights of their minor son.The warring couple have exchanged various charges in public. An application was filed by Rahul Reddy that despite specific orders of the court giving him visitation rights to see his minor child, it was not being complied with.The parties will now be required to be in court on Tuesday.
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