Citizenship case: Ex-MLA Ramesh pays Rs 25 lakh fine on Telangana HC order
Hyderabad(The Uttam Hindu): Former MLA Chennamaneni Ramesh of Bharat Rashtra Samithi on Monday paid Rs 25 lakh penalty to Congress MLA and Government Whip Adi Srinivas as directed by the Telangana High Court in a citizenship case. Srinivas had filed a petition in the High Court, stating that Ramesh suppressed his German citizenship by submitting fake documents. The High Court on November 6, 2024, ruled that Ramesh is a German citizen and imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh for misleading the court for the last 15 years. Justice B. Vijayasen Reddy had directed the four-time MLA from Vemulawada constituency to pay Rs 25 lakh to the petitioner Srinivas and Rs 5 lakh to the Legal Services Authority.
As per the High Court order, Ramesh handed over the Demand Draft of Rs 25 lakh to Srinivas and Rs 5 lakh to the Legal Services Authority. Srinivas told media persons that this case proved that truth prevails. Stating that Ramesh got Indian citizenship by submitting fake documents to contest the 2009 election and won against him, Srinivas said, since then, he had been fighting for justice. Srinivas, who is the sitting MLA from Vemulawada in Rajanna Sircilla district, said the people of the constituency have now come to know the true nature of Ramesh. He demanded that Ramesh apologise to the people of the constituency for cheating them.
Venting its ire over Ramesh for suppressing his German citizenship by submitting fake documents, the High Court had imposed a huge penalty on him. The court had pronounced the order on a writ petition filed by Ramesh challenging the cancellation of his Indian citizenship by the Central government. Controversy surrounded Ramesh’s Indian citizenship since 2009, when he was first elected as MLA on the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ticket. In 2019, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification stripping him of Indian citizenship. Ramesh had challenged the same in the High Court.
In January last year, Additional Solicitor General B. Narasimha Sharma had informed the High Court that Ramesh had a valid German passport and he got the passport renewed till 2033. Citing the report of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the ASG had informed the court that Ramesh visited Germany thrice in 2023 using the German passport. In November 2019, the Ministry of Home Affairs cancelled the Indian citizenship of Ramesh on the grounds that he had held citizenship of Germany and had not fulfilled the stipulated norms while obtaining the Indian citizenship in 2009.
Ramesh had gone to Germany for employment in the early 1990s and obtained German Citizenship in 1993, when he surrendered his Indian passport. In 2008, he returned to India and applied for Indian citizenship, which was granted to him by the MHA. He won the election from the Vemulawada Assembly constituency in the 2009 elections. As per the Citizenship Act, a person who applies for an Indian citizenship should be present in India for at least 12 months before the date of application. But Adi Srinivas lodged a complaint with the MHA stating that Ramesh still held the German passport and had gone to Germany within this stipulated period of 12 months before being granted Indian citizenship.
Ramesh retained the Vemulawada seat in 2010 in the by-election, which he contested as the candidate of TRS (now BRS). He was once again elected from the same constituency on a BRS ticket in 2014. In September 2017, the MHA cancelled the citizenship of Ramesh. However, he filed a review petition in the MHA and later moved the high court and obtained a stay order. Subsequently, he contested the Assembly elections again in December 2018 and got elected from the same constituency for the fourth time. In the elections held in November 2023, BRS denied a ticket to Ramesh and fielded Lakshmi Narasimha Rao. He, however, lost to Aadi Srinivas of the Congress party.
