Plea against CJ’s recommendations of judges admitted

Hyderabad, Dec. 22: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday decided to hear a petition filed against the recommendation the Chief Justice to elevate four advocates of the Andhra Pradesh High Court Bar for the post of judges.

Mr Vasireddy Prabhunath, a practising advocate of the High Court, filed the writ contesting that the action of the CJ was illegal. The petitioner contended that the CJ had failed to take into account several eligible legal professionals like him and hence he was aggrieved.

The High Court registry raised certain objections on whether such a petition can be entertained by the High Court when the CJ was made a respondent.

Overruling the objections raised by the registry, a division bench comprising Justice V.V.S. Rao and Justice N.B. Narayana Rao while deciding to hear the petition directed the registry to number the petition.

The bench observed that the objections raised by the registry cannot be sustained in view of four judgements rendered by the Supreme Court in similar cases on an earlier occasion.

Earlier, the petition came up before another division bench but the petitioner objected that the bench cannot hear the petition as one of the advocates whose name was empanelled for the judge is close to a judge who is a member in the bench. The bench referred the case to the CJ with a request to post the petition before another bench. The petitioner levelled charges of favouritism against the CJ in recommending the names of certain advocates to be made judges of the High Court. The CJ had recently sent four names of advocates to New Delhi to be made judges. The bench posted the matter to January third week for admission and regular hearing.

HC anguished by Mir Alam tank condition

The Andhra Pradesh High Court is anguished over the poor state of Mir Alam Tank which was one of the main drinking water sources of the city. Justice L. Narasimha Reddy while dismissing a petition filed by Shahzadi Showkat Jahan Begum filed against the action of Hyderabad Metro Development Authority, observed: “It is a matter of shame that the assistance of Netherlands, a much smaller country than India in every respect, has become necessary to restore its original functional status.’’

The HMDA told the court through an affidavit that Mir Alam tank was one of the sources of drinking water to the city till 1964. The tank had an original water spread area of about 400 acres and part of it has already has been encroached by various slums and the tank is polluted with untreated sewage inflows, solid waste dumping and washing of animals.

Agitators told to take up peaceful strikes

Justice B. Chandra Kumar of the High Court on Tuesday expressed anguish over the violent agitations rocking the state. The judge exhorted the agitationists, students in particular, to realise the importance of the Gandhian path expressing dissent and adhere to those principles. The judge while granting bail to two of the students who participated in the recent protests near Osmania University, observed that in any democratic society, students, workers and employees or whosoever is aggrieved may agitate for their demands.