Upset with the open defiance of subordinate judicial officers, the Hyderabad high court on Tuesday suspended nine more judicial officers of magistrate/sub-judge levels.
Protesting the alleged illegal suspensions and also their allocation between both states, the Telangana Subordinate Judicial Officers Association has resolved that all its members will go on mass leave till their earned leaves are exhausted. There are around 150 judicial officers working in subordinate courts in the state, including in Hyderabad.
The high court has stated that participating in the silent rally taken out by the Telangana Judicial Officers’ Association on Sunday in protest of provisional allocation of subordinate judicial officers between AP and Telangana amounted to judicial indiscipline.
The high court had earlier suspended two district judge-ranked officers on the same ground.
Judicial officers, meanwhile, said that they were expecting some more suspensions in the coming days as the high court was examining the video footage available with it pertaining to their silent rally. They said that the suspensions were illegal as they were not even served show-cause notices before their suspension, which is mandatory in judicial service rules. Meanwhile, Telangana lawyers continued their stir on Tuesday across the state against the suspension of the judicial officers. Several advocates were taken into custody across the state when they tried to take out rallies and processions.
On June 6, lawyers and judicial employees across TS had launched an agitation against the provisional allocation of judicial officers. The executive committee of the TS High Court Advocates’ Association, in an emergency meeting, unanimously resolved to abstain from court work on Wednesday.
Another advocate from the city, Gampa Venkateswarlu, attempted to commit suicide by consuming sleeping pills. ‘No Centre role in HC bifurcation’ Union law minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda on Tuesday made it clear that the Centre had no role in bifurcation of the high court and that it was the responsibility of the Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Chief Justice of the high court.
He criticised Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for making false allegations against the Centre.
