TS High Court begins operations

The first day at the new High Court for Telangana commenced with a full court meeting headed by Chief Justice Thottathil Bhaskaran Nair Radhakrishnan on Wednesday morning.

Members of the Bar Council, advocates and other dignitaries attended the meeting at the packed court hall. Proceedings started with a contempt case related to Andhra Pradesh referring to the newly constituted High Court in that State.

 

Former MLA and Backward Classes Welfare Association national president R Krishnaiah filed a house motion petition in the High Court, pleading to issue orders to stop issuing the gram panchayat election notification. The counsel for the petitioner requested the court to hear the petition on an urgent basis. The court, however, posted the matter to Thursday.

Meanwhile, the first full court commenced at 10.15 am as the judges took their allotted seats and heard State Advocate General (AG) BS Prasad Rao. In his 16-minute address to the Bench and Bar, the State AG recalled various historic moments from the day in 1956 — Ramzan and Diwali — when the High Court of Andhra Pradesh was inaugurated.

He paid tributes to the martyrs of the Telangana Statehood movement and said the State government was committed to the welfare of the



downtrodden. He said the judges have a complex challenge ahead of them — guided by Constitution in the tight-rope-walk they undertake, they would be assisted by a conscious and able Bar, Rao said.

Chairman of Bar Council A Narsimha Reddy reiterated that an impartial and independent judiciary was a guarantee to the citizen. He pointed out obligations of the Bar to serve the people. He said the sanctity of the institutional and individual level will only be upheld by constantly upgrading the skillsets of the advocates.

President of the High Court Bar Association Damodhar Reddy also addressed the court. In a crisp response, the Chief Justice highlighted the pendency of over 1.87 lakh cases. He referred to them as “the opening balance and the need to fight pendency”. He said the Bar and Bench were not just two sides of a coin, but “two wheels of majestic caravan of justice”.

Minutes later, the Chief Justice constituted a Bench with Justice A Rajashekar Reddy. The Bench took up a matter mentioned by counsel Prakash Chakravarthy in a habeas corpus writ petition. Petitioner P Madhurani alleged illegal detention of her husband P Sekhar by the Kukatpally police. The Bench asked the government to respond by Friday.