
VIJAYAWADA: On Tuesday, the Andhra Pradesh High Court ordered Society for the Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) Chief Executive Officer A Md Imtiaz to personally appear before the court and discuss the authority granted to village/ward volunteers to identify welfare system recipients.
R Vasantha Lakshmi and 26 other residents of Palnadu’s Garapadu hamlet filed a case with the High Court contesting the decision to strike their names from the list of YSR Cheyutha beneficiaries.
The petitioners claimed that political considerations caused their exclusion from the list of Cheyutha recipients.Justice Battu Devanand, who heard the case, questioned the involvement of volunteers in the beneficiary selection process since the relevant departments already have staff in place to do so.
A new hearing date for the matter was set for February 28. The petitioners’ attorney informed the court that volunteers from the village/ward are now doing the duties once performed by panchayat secretary.
The judge demanded information about the volunteers’ legal status and service regulations.