Former Andhra Pradesh minister told to pay up for faking caste

HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad high court on Monday directed Andhra Pradesh officials to recover all emoluments paid to former forest minister Satrucharla Vijayarama Raju for contesting and winning election from an ST reserved constituency by faking his caste.

Justice P Naveen Rao ordered the AP assembly secretary to recover in full the amount paid to Vijayarama Raju during his tenure as MLA of Nagur constituency in Vizianagaram district from 1999 to 2004. The judge pronounced the order after hearing a petition filed by N Jayaraju, who urged the court to prosecute the ex-minister on the ground that he got elected by furnishing a forged document that he belonged to a Scheduled Tribe (ST) community even though he was a Kshatriya.

The petitioner's counsel told the court that the HC had earlier heard an election petition and held that Vijayarama Raju was not an ST and that he actually belongs to the Kshatriya community. The HC also declared that the exminister contesting from Nagur, a constituency reserved for STs, was wrong. The Supreme Court too had upheld the HC order on the caste status of Raju, the counsel said.

“Though Satrucharla Vijayarama Raju was claiming that he belongs to Konda Dora community that falls under the ST category , the claim was declared false, by both the high court and the Supreme Court,“ he said.

Justice Naveen Rao, who heard the case at length, gave a direction to the assembly secretary to recover the money paid to Raju. The judge, however, declined to entertain the petitioner's plea to prosecute the ex-minister.