Telangana advocates claim conspiracy, stage 'Maha Dharna'

Thousands of Telangana lawyers and judicial officers on Friday staged a 'Maha Dharna' at Hyderabad’s Indira Park, demanding the immediate creation of a separate High Court for the state.

Dancing to the tunes of emotional Telangana songs that derided the Andhra domination over Telangana, the advocates vowed to lay seize to the Union Parliament during the monsoon session, scheduled to commence from July 18.

The venue of dharna reverberated with songs and dances related to Telangana's cultural troupes. The songs recalled the sacrifices of Telangana youth to drive away Andhraites from the region. 

 

The advocates, who have been boycotting the courts for over a month, staged the dharna in a bid to intensify their movement. Students’ Joint Action Committee of Osmania University also joined the movement. All political parties of the state have extended their support to the advocates cause. 

 

Today the lawyers put forth three demands: Revocation of the suspension orders issued against 11 judicial officers and four leaders of legal employees association, recall of the provisional allocation of judicial officers between the two states which they alleged is an attempt to fill the Telangana courts with Andhra judges, and bifurcation of the Hyderabad High Court into Andhra and Telangana High Courts immediately.

 

The advocates suspect a conspiracy by Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and the NDA government (of which he is an ally). According to Rajinder Reddy, T-Advocates JAC convener, the conspiracy is to ensure Andhra's control of Telangana, through the judiciary.

 

“The way the provisional allocation is made by the chief justice of Hyderabad High Court clearly demonstrates the deeply rooted design. If the list is approved, Judges of Andhra region will come to Telangana and stay in service for about 10 to 20 years. All Andhra judges opted for Telangana even though there are vacancies in Andhra region. By this

division, no vacancy will arise in the Telangana till all these judges are retired. And some of them will get promoted as High Court Judges. We will not accept this,” Reddy said.

 

As per the Section 108 of Andhra Pradesh reorganisation Act, 2014, employees should be divided based on nativity, they said.

 

“Suspension of judges is unfair and against the spirit of democracy, “said Rangarao, president of Advocates Association. “The judges have been suspended merely because they represented their case to the Governor. When employees of the courts extended support to the striking judges, their leaders have been suspended. When lawyers wanted to protest the unconstitutional steps of the chief justice of Hyderabad High Court, advocates have been arrested,” he said, adding that they would take their battle to the National Capital.

 

The advocates took serious objection to Union law minister Sadananda Gowda passing the buck on to Chandrababu Naidu and vice versa. 

 

“When Telangana government is ready to provide accommodation to Andhra Pradesh High Court in Hyderabad, why is it the High Court Chief Justice and Andhra chief minister Naidu are not interested in the division?” they asked, and said they would continue the agitation until the High Court was bifurcated, the suspension of judges was revoked and the division of judges was cancelled.