Demand for separate HC for Telangana sees TRS-Congress clash in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: A demand for a separate High Court in Telangana on Tuesday led to heated exchanges between TRS and Congress members in the Rajya Sabha. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, K Keshav Rao (TRS) demanded the creation of a separate Telangana High Court while pointing to the gap in the number of judges from Andhra and Telangana region in the Andhra Pradesh High Court and district courts in Telangana state. Currently, the Andhra Pradesh High Court covers the jurisdiction of the new state of Telangana.

Rao said while 19 judges in the High Court were from Andhra Pradesh, only six belonged to Telangana. The number was 426 versus 50 in the district courts, he added. The TRS leader also said that the entire bar in Telangana was on strike opposing the fresh notification and circular of examination schedule for junior civil judges without disclosing the share of posts for Telangana.

J D Seelam and V Hanumantha Rao (both Congress) strongly opposed the TRS member's remarks and heated exchanges broke out. This evoked angry reaction from Deputy Chairman P J Kurien.

"You are engaging in hooliganism, this is unbecoming behaviour. I am sorry for this kind of hooliganism in the House," he said and warned Seelam that action could be taken against him.

Rapolu Anand Bhaskar (Congress) said the delay in separation of Andhra Pradesh High Court into Andhra and Telangana High Courts has led to the situation of an agitation.