Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday, while dealing with a petition filed by one of its judges, Justice B. Siva Sankara Rao, said it was helpless and could not give orders to either the Supreme Court or the President’s office on any issue.
The petition sought to direct the President’s office secretariat to revise the judge’s date of birth.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice A. Rajasekhar Reddy observed that it was a big issue and said it was not fair to ask or direct to take action. It recalled Justice Siva Sankara Rao saying that the provisions of the law were very clear on the date of birth. Half-a-dozen judgments were against the revision of the date of birth.
The High Court ruled that the question of the date of birth of High Court judges may be brought to the notice of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) in accordance with Article 217 (3) of the Constitution and then the President would make a decision.
“However, there are certain limits to the use of this authority. The President has used his power only three to four times so far. The President’s office cannot be ordered by the central government to make decisions on the petition as ordinary people,” the court said.
The court adjourned the case for two weeks.
Justice B. Siva Sankara Rao had earlier filed a petition against the President’s office and the Union law department on inaction on his request to revise his date of birth from 1957 to 1959.
