Hyderabad: Though subordinate judicial officers and staff of the Telangana judiciary resumed their duties on Wednesday, the advocate fraternity of Telangana have decided to continue their stir till the Centre and the higher judiciary take a decision with regard to bifurcation of the common High Court at Hyderabad between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Secretary of National Judicial Employees Association, Mr Lakshma Reddy, said that the Telangana Judicial Officers Association had decided to withdraw its strike following the meeting with the acting Chief Justice and judges of the High Court; office bearers of judicial staff of Telangana also met the chief secretary of the state.
He said that the CS had agreed to solve their long-pending demands and also to the creation of 532 new posts of judicial staff in the state. The acting Chief Justice too has agreed to resolve their demands, Mr Reddy added. He said that in this background, they decided to withdraw their agitation and resume duty.
According to the Judicial Officers’ Association, it resolved to withdraw the stir in view of the categorical assurance from the Chief Justice of India that an advisory committee would be appointed for allocation of judicial officers between both states as per the provisions of Sections 77 to 80 of the AP Reorganisation Act 2014.
The Telangana Advocates Joint Action Committee, Telangana High Court Advocates’ Association and the Federation of the Telangana Bar Associations, meanwhile, say that withdrawing their agitation at this stage is not be proper as their demand was not met yet.
Meanwhile the High Court Registry has listed review petitions by Telangana government and Mr Gandra Mohan Rao, president of the Telangana HC Advocates Association, seeking to review the order passed by a division Bench on May 1, 2015 with regard to bifurcation of the High Court between AP and Telangana.
The petitioners urged to set aside the judgment as it was decided on hypothetical grounds and it was also against the Constitution in deciding that two separate High Courts should not be continued in the common capital.
The question of having two High Courts in a common capital was to be decided by the Constitution, not the courts, the review petitioners contended.
No benefits for aided teacher
The Hyderabad High Court has made it clear that courts cannot direct the government to extend benefits enjoyed by a state government teacher to one working in a private aided school.
The order came as Justice T. Sunil Chowdary dismissed a petition by a teacher of an aided school in Prakasam district challenging the action of the authorities in not paying him allowance for the period he had worked as head master with full additional charge (FAC).
The petitioner submitted that when he had appro-ached the High Court in an earlier occasion when the authorities had refused to pay allowance, the court had directed the authorities to consider his case due to orders passed by the district educational officer for payment of allowance.
After perusing the case records, the judge noted that the petitioner had been posted as head master (FAC) in view of a seniority dispute between two senior teachers of the school by the correspondent as a stop-gap arrangement.
The judge refuted the contention of the petitioner that he was entitled to claim FAC allowance.
