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Telangana lawyers approach Prez against judges’ transfer
In the letter, dated April 13, which surfaced only on Monday, the JAC said there were already nine judges belonging to Andhra Pradesh in the state high court, including a woman judge, who was recently transferred.
The joint action committee (JAC) of Telangana advocates has written a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind warning agitation if more judges from Andhra Pradesh are transferred to Telangana high court, thereby scuttling the chances of the local judicial officers.
In the letter, dated April 13, which surfaced only on Monday, the JAC said there were already nine judges belonging to Andhra Pradesh in the state high court, including a woman judge, who was recently transferred.
“We want the Centre to immediately send her back to Andhra Pradesh and stop further transfers of Andhra judges to Telangana, as it would hurt the sentiments of the Telangana legal fraternity. This might lead to a third Telangana agitation,” JAC convenor M Rajender Reddy said.
Stating that injustice was done to Telangana legal fraternity in the appointment of judges in the high court during the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh regime, the JAC said the situation continued even after the formation of a separate Telangana state.
“The strength of the judges of Telangana high court has gone up to 42. But in a planned manner, judges are being sent to Telangana high court,” the JAC said in the letter, which was seen by HT.
“During the bifurcation of the combined state, many districts’ judges belonging to Andhra Pradesh opted for Telangana cadre and eight of them were elevated as high court judges. We, the Telangana advocates, never protested as we treated them as Telangana cadre,” he said.
Reddy said what worried the Telangana legal fraternity was the transfer of three senior-most Telangana high court judges to other courts in the country and one Andhra Pradesh high court judge to Telangana high court.
“Justice P V Sanjay Kumar, Justice M S Ramachandra Rao and Justice T Amarnath Goud were transferred in the last two years and sent to different parts of the country. And recently, Justice Kanneganti Lalitha from AP high court was transferred to Telangana,” he pointed out.
The JAC also pointed out in the letter that after the woman judge from Andhra was transferred to the state, many advocates from the Andhra region have started practising in the high court, thereby affecting the practice of the Telangana advocates.
“We have come to know that some more judges from Andhra Pradesh are being transferred to Telangana, and some more senior judges from Telangana are likely to be transferred to other states. For the last seven decades, the Telangana advocates have been deprived of their rights and are not getting their share in the appointment of high court judges, particularly from OBC, SC, ST and minority sections,” the JAC leader said.
The JAC demanded that at least for two years, there shall be no transfer of judges from Andhra to Telangana and judges from Telangana high court to other states.
