Telangana vs Andhra Pradesh over allocation of judges; Centre stays out

Hyderabad/Warangal: Nine more lower court judges were suspended by the High Court on Tuesday on disciplinary grounds as the agitation against provisional allocation of judges between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana intensified with 200 judicial officers in Telangana going on mass leave for 15 days. The Telangana Judges Association also called for a ‘High Court Bandh’ tomorrow.

The development also escalated the row between Telangana Government and the Centre, with the TRS blaming the Centre for not bifurcating the HC following carving out of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh in 2014.

Protesting the action taken by the High Court today, about 200 judicial officers working across the state decided to go on mass leave for 15 days beginning today.

On Monday, the HC had suspended two lower court judges after over 100 of them took out a procession and submitted a representation on their demands to the Governor on Sunday under the banner of the Telangana Judges Association.

The ruling TRS alleged that the Centre is being "insensitive" by not bifurcating the High Court so far. TRS Lok Sabha member K Kavitha said her father and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao even proposed to hold a protest in Delhi over the issue.

However, Union Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said the Centre had no role in the bifurcation of a high court and the state government blaming Centre on the issue was "unacceptable and intolerable", Gowda said.

He also rubbished the TRS charge that the Centre was under political pressure from Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. "Creation of new high court for Telangana is in hands of Chief Minister and Chief Justice of that high court

(which is common for two states at present)," Gowda said.

"If the Chief Minister provides infrastructure and other things, rest of the things will be taken care by the high court. Simply putting the blame on Centre is not fair," Gowda said.

"Central government has no role to play. It's not in our hands," the Union Minister said.

On CM's proposed dharna, Gowda said, "If he holds a dharna for no reason then people will evaluate the dharna."

Earlier, Kavitha had hastened to add that the Telangana government did not want things to "escalate to that level" and appealed to the Prime Minister to intervene on the issue of bifurcation.

She said TRS MPs had raised the issue in Parliament and Rao had approached the PM "10 times" for bifurcation of the high court, but the Centre refused to respond under pressure from Chandrababu Naidu.

There was a "conspiracy" by the Andhra Pradesh government and some "Andhra elders at the Centre" in "Andhra Judges" getting the option to work in Telangana, she said.

Advocates and judicial employees across Telangana launched an agitation on June 6 protesting the provisional allocation. They objected to the judges from Andhra Pradesh getting appointments in Telangana courts.

Some 125 judicial officers of Telangana had on Sunday tendered their resignations to the Telangana Judges Association President, authorising him to hand them over to the Governor, if the demands were not met.

After the suspension of nine more judges today, Telangana Judges Association held an emergency meeting where they decided to proceed on a fortnight-long mass casual leave. "...nearly 200 judges under the aegis of Telangana Judges Association attended the meeting and passed a resolution to proceed on mass leave for 15 days," a judicial officer said, adding it also passed a resolution demanding immediate withdrawal of the list of allocation of judicial officers between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

All India Judicial Employees Association's general secretary B Lakshma Reddy had yesterday said non-bifurcation of the High Court was the root cause of the problem. Lawyers affiliated to Telangana Advocates Joint Action Committee held demonstrations outside courts across the state.

Telangana Judges Association also gave a call for ‘Chalo High Court’ and a ‘High Court Bandh’ tomorrow. Police took several protesting advocates into preventive custody.

Telangana Advocates JAC co-convener T Sriranga Rao had earlier said the allocation of judges was done by the High Court without taking into consideration the guidelines framed by the HC itself in February this year. "We have been seeking preparation of a fresh list of allocation between the two states as per the native district declared by the judicial officers at the time of entry into service," Rao said.

Telangana BJP blamed the Chief Minister for the row. "BJP supports Telangana judges' protest and (is against) the injustice being meted out to them. CM KCR is equally responsible for not acting on time, while the provisional list was in process.”

"Governor in consultation with Chief Justice of High Court and the CM appoints district judges. What was KCR doing throughout this 5-6 month process? Why did not he protest when the list was notified in May 2016 by HC? His protest now is purely political," BJP spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao said.

Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya would meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda with A Narasimha Reddy, Chairman, Bar Council of AP and Telangana in Delhi today over the issue, a BJP release said.

Meanwhile, in Waragal, lawyers allegedly vandalised a local court and tried to assault K V Narsimhulu, additional district and sessions judge, demanding that he shift outside Telangana.

As per the call given by the Telangana Bar Association, Warangal Bar Association boycotted the courts. Slogans slamming the Union Law Minister and demanding separate High Court for Telangana were raised.

Subedari police at Warangal filed a case against general secretary T Venkata Ramana and vice president Allam Naga Raju of Warangal Bar Association and six others for rioting and other offences.