Hyderabad: Mild tension prevailed inside and outside the Hyderabad High Court premises on Monday following the ‘Chalo High Court’ call given by the Federation of Bar Associations, Telangana Advocates JAC and Telangana High Court Advocates Association (THCAA), demanding immediate bifurcation of the Common High Court and also recall of the provisional allocation of subordinate judicial officers between TS and AP.
Despite the restrictions put in place by the police, scores of lawyers from various districts of Telangana managed to reach the High Court. When the police stopped them at Madina Crossroads from reaching the High Court, a heated argument between the cops and the lawyers took place, leading to commotion.
The police took over 300 advocates into custody when they tried to reach the High Court and shifted them to Bollarum and Falaknuma police stations.
Meanwhile, a group of advocates, who had squatted at the entrance of the first court hall demanding release of their colleagues, called off their stir after senior police officers assured them that all the arrested lawyers would be released.
Later when they came to know that hundreds of advocates were taken into custody, the advocates squatted before the chambers of the ACJ and started raising slogans “Andhra judges go back, we want justice.”
Sensing that the situation may deteriorate, Justice Bhosale invited the advocates for talks. Senior counsel Sarasani Satyam Reddy, THCAA president Gandra Mohan and vice-president K. Srikanth Reddy, TAJAC convener M. Rajender Reddy and civil liberties committee leader V. Raghunath met justices Bhosale and Ramesh Ranganathan, C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy and P.V. Sanjay Kumar.
While the negotiations were on, Mr Raghunath, who is also an advocate, came out from the meeting and announced that the judges’ committee expressed helplessness in recalling the provisional list.
The sudden announcement further triggered tension in the court corridors. However, the other advocates who were in the meeting informed their colleagues that the ACJ has sought time to sort out the issue.
Earlier, the police had deployed heavy forces at the Muslim Jung, Nayapul and Puranapul bridges and erected barricades to prevent the entry of advocates whose cases were not in the cause list of the High Court.
