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9 more judges suspended, 335 to go on mass leave in Telangana
Nine more lower court judges were on Tuesday suspended by the high court 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.
More than 300 judges in Telangana will go on indefinite mass leave from Wednesday to protest against the suspension of 11 of their peers by the Hyderabad high court, plunging the young state’s judicial system in crisis.
Raucous protests by judges of civil and criminal courts and tribunals have rocked Hyderabad for three weeks now, angering the HC that said it won’t tolerate judges taking part in demonstrations and violating the code of conduct.
The lower court judges allege the process of dividing judges between the two states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana is unfair. They say several judges from Andhra have been allocated to Telangana, a decision that will hurt the promotion prospects of local judges.
The Telangana judges are also unhappy over the current status of the high court that is supposed to be shared between the two states. The protesters say the high court judges are biased against them and refuse to work under the “Andhra judicial rulers”.
This is the latest flashpoint in a bitter tussle between the two states after Telangana was carved out of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh in 2014. The two governments have clashed before on a proposed capital, allocation of officers and natural resources.
“All judges of Telangana, 335 to be precise, had an emergency meeting this afternoon and decided to go on mass leave till the suspension of their colleagues is revoked,” Telangana Advocates Joint Action Committee convener A Sriranga Rao told HT.
The Telangana Bar Association also called for a boycott of the court headed by acting chief justice Dilip K Bhosale, ratcheting up tensions within the high court premises.
The unprecedented move came after the high court suspended nine civil and criminal court judges for taking part in the protests. On Monday, two senior judges were suspended.
But an unfazed high court indicated more judges might be suspended in the future.
The protests have spread across the state with advocates in various districts boycotting courts. In Warangal, agitating advocates ransacked the court hall and damaged furniture.
The demonstrations also took on a political colour with chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao saying he will take up the issue with the Centre to “ensure justice” to Telangana judges.
His Telangana Rashtra Samiti blames the Centre for not bifurcating the HC in 2014 and has said the ruling NDA government is being “insensitive” about the issue.
Union law minister DV Sadananda Gowda said the bifurcation of a high court was not the Centre’s responsibility. “Creation of new high court for Telangana... it’s in the hands of chief minister and Chief Justice of that high court (which is common for two states at present),” Gowda told PTI.
“If the Chief Minister provides all the infrastructure and other things, rest of the things high court will take care. Simply putting the blame on the Centre, it’s not fair on anybody,” Gowda said.
