Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Monday expressed its displeasure at Congress MP V. Hanumantha Rao when he tried to intervene in the hearing of a PIL moved by him, seeking removal of Vice-Chancellor of University of Hyderabad, Prof. Appa Rao.
Mr Hanumantha Rao, who had came to the court to witness the hearing, sat in the visitors’ gallery. During the hearing, when the division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice P. Naveen Rao posed critical questions to C. Damodar Reddy, counsel for the petitioner, the MP got irritated and stood up and shouted that he was an MP and wanted to make certain submissions.
He said that as many as 6,000 students and teaching staff of the varsity were on the roads because of Prof. Appa Rao, and he was prepared for whatever punishment the court ordered, but he wanted to make submissions and was prepared to even go to jail. Irked with the ruckus created by the MP, the Bench asked his counsel why he had not properly advised his client on how to behave in court.
When the advocates advised the MP about the procedure to address the Bench, the MP left the court hall. Initially when counsel for the petitioner submitted that Prof. Appa Rao was an accused in the suicide case of research scholar Rohith Vemula and he went on a long leave after his suspension from the V-C’s post by the Centre, the Bench asked how he could go on leave when he was under suspension .
The Bench asked counsel to be specific whether the V-C was suspended or whether he had gone on leave, and the counsel replied that he had gone on a long leave and was not suspended. When the counsel contended that a person who was an accused in a criminal case should not continue in the V-C’s post, the Bench asked counsel to show such an provision in law.
At this stage, Mr Hanumantha Rao started shouting from the gallery and when Justice Bhosale enquired who was making these statements, Mr Rao himself announced loudly that he was a Member of Parliament and tried to go forward to address the judges. As his counsel tried to prevent him from coming forward, the Acting CJ called for the police to evict the MP. At this point Mr Rao made a silent exit from the court. Later the Bench admitted the plea and issued notices to all respondents to file their counter affidavits and posted the case to June 20.
