Justice L. Narasimha Reddy of the AP High Court asked the Centre on Wednesday to make public within two weeks the secret note submitted to it by the Justice Sri Krishna Committee as part of its report on the issue of Telangana.

Ruling that withholding the secret note contained in the Chapter 8 of the report was unconstitutional, Justice Reddy said that there were no sensitive or security aspects in the so-called secret report as claimed by the Centre. “Government can’t claim the privilege of withholding the said note as it becomes arbitrary, unreasonable and unconstitutional,” the court ruled.

Stating that the committee has gone beyond its terms of reference to persuade the Centre not to accept the demand for separate Telangana state, the court said there could not be a meaningful discussion on the report unless the contents of the chapter 8 were made public.

Justice Reddy’s direction points out that the secret note has dealt with the Maoist and communal violence in the region and contained suggestions to the Government on political and media management in the state.

The court delivered its order on a PIL filed by the former MP Mr. Narayana Reddy seeking the court direction to the Government to make the secret part of the report public.