Hyderabad High Court dismisses PIL seeking a permanent Chief Justice
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Friday refused to entertain a PIL seeking appointment of a permanent Chief Justice to the court and also appointment of other judges.
A division bench comprising Justice V. Ramasubramanian and Justice J. Uma Devi was dismissing the PIL by senior counsel Sarasani Satyam Reddy, seeking to declare as illegal and unconstitutional the failure of the Supreme Court, the Central, AP and TS governments to appoint judges and a permanent Chief Justice to the Hyderabad High Court.
The bench said that a three-member bench of the Supreme Court, while dealing with a batch of petitions on appointment of judges, had on March 20, 2017 observed: “It is not in dispute that a large number of unfilled posts of judges, at various levels, are pending, and a rigorous process for filling them is in progress.”
Counsel for the petitioner contended that the High Court has the power under Article 226 to send notice to the Supreme Court and also issue directions; and if the jurisdiction under the Article is to be curtailed even without issuing notice, there was no justification for the court to be in existence.
Reacting to this argument, the bench noted that “We do not think that we should respond to such intimidatory arguments. If people mistake discipline to be subservience or servility or weakness, we cannot help it.”
The bench observed that “counsel is thoroughly mistaken in his impression that we feel diffident or at least hesitant, to issue notices to the Supreme Court. Exercise of every power is coupled with responsibilities. The higher the power, higher is the responsibility. Bravado has no place in the exercise of a Constitutional responsibility/power. If restraint is sought to be mistaken as cowardice, so be it.”
Referring to the assurance in the order of the Supreme Court, Justice Ramasubramanian in his order said “If a member of the judicial fraternity himself does not repose faith and trust in what is recorded in an order of the highest court of the land, we do not know who else will do so.”
Tough task to recommend names for judges: Bench
The Hyderabad High Court on Friday opined that it may face an uphill task while recommending names for elevation in view of bifurcation of AP on grounds of nativity, ancestry, origin etc.
A division bench comprising Justice V. Ramasubramanian and Justice J. Uma Devi, while dismissing a PIL by senior counsel Sarasani Satyam Reddy seeking appointment of judges and Chief Justice, said: “We are conscious of the fact that as and when the exercise of filling up vacancies of judges is undertaken, many obstacles may be posed on grounds of nativity, ancestry, origin etc., (apart from the usual obstacles that every other High Court normally faces).”
The bench expressed the above opinion in the backdrop of the contention of the petitioner that of the existing strength of 27 judges of the HC, only four belonged to TS.
Of these four, two were from the Bar and the other two were from the subordinate judiciary.
