Hyderabad: Putting the onus of bifurcation of the Hyderabad High Court on AP Chief Minister and High Court Chief Justice, Union law minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda on Tuesday said once the infrastructure was ready and the judges are separated, afterwards the CJI has to concur and the paper has to be processed by the ministry of law and justice.
“The Chief Justice should take care of TS as well as AP as per the Reorganisation Act,” he said. Mr Gowda refused to comment further since the matter is subjudice, as a review petition of a dismissed PIL is pending before the High Court.
He admitted that the number of judges in the High Court from TS was very less compared to AP. “We did a study and we got statistics. AP High Court’s approved strength is 37 and TS’ is 24. The working strength at present in AP is 18 and TS three. I don’t dispute that,” he said.
An upset Mr Gowda added, “...let him (Mr Rao) sit on a dharna. He should not behave like Kejriwal who doesn’t do anything but lash out at the Central government every day. If the TS Chief Minister too follows him, people will give a fitting reply.”
Mr Gowda said the criteria for appointments to subordinate judiciaries of the concerned state was where they hailed from. The Chief Justice of the High Court and the CM have to consult each other to appoint judges in district courts and lower judiciary, he added.
He was speaking to the media after meeting a BJP delegation led by Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya. TRS MPs had earlier met Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Jitender Singh to apprise them of the situation in Hyderabad.
