Telangana judicial staff on indefinite strike

8,000 employees protest seeking bifurcation of HC

The work in courts across Telangana came to a grinding halt on Friday with over 8,000 employees launching an indefinite strike demanding bifurcation of the high court and cancellation of the provisional allotment of judges for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states.

“All categories of employees in courts across ten districts in the state have joined the stir by holding demonstrations. This is a fight by judicial staff for justice,” said B Lakshma Reddy, general secretary of the All India Judicial Employees Association. “We demand immediate rollback of the provisional allocation of judges for AP and Telangana. We also demand that the High Court should be bifurcated. The strike will continue till our demands are met,” said Reddy, who along with eight other members of the Association, was suspended by the High Court for violating code of conduct.

Over the last four days, the High Court has suspended 11 judicial officers on disciplinary grounds. The legal fraternity in Telangana has been on the warpath, demanding cancellation of provisional allotment of judges on the ground that officers from AP were posted in Telangana.

Addressing the ‘Maha dharna’ at Indira Park here, Telangana-Joint Action Committee chief Prof Kodandaram has expressed solidarity with the agitating legal fraternity and said that the fight for free Telangana will not be complete without a separate High Court. “The respect for the court makes the court supreme. So the Chief Justice must take back the order posting AP judges in Telangana and restore the glory of the High Court,” he said lauding the advocates for their efforts to protect the interests of Telangana.

Acting Chief Justice Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale and judges of the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad appealed to the agitating employees and judicial officers to immediately withdraw the "illegal" strike and resume work in public interest. A release issued by the High Court Registrar General also warned that if the strike was not called off immediately, it may have to consider other options to ensure that the litigants do not suffer.

In a related development, judicial officers from Andhra Pradesh met the CJ and sought protection from attacks by the Telangana advocates, citing the alleged attack on a judge of AP origin in Warangal district court.