Telangana High Court: Identity politics creeping into legislature, bitterness into courts

It is the first ‘order’ the judge in Telangana has given in 23 days. “I will give you all the information but you cannot name or quote me anywhere,’’ the judge ordered me as a pre-condition to the interview. Barring the High court of Hyderabad, all courts in Telangana have been shut since 6 June, with judges themselves in an unprecedented move, leading the boycott. This judge is also one of the eleven judges who has been suspended by the High court, after he along with 130-odd other Telangana judges marched in protest to the Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad on Sunday. Unhappy with how judges had taken the road less travelled, the court cracked the whip, to send across a message that indiscipline inside and outside the court will not be tolerated. “The suspension was expected,’’ the judge said. “The Andhra judges are totally biased.’’ His barb is directed at the 18 of the 25 judges in the High court, who hail from Andhra. Only 3 are natives of Telangana, while four are from outside either of the two Telugu states. In the polarised environment of Telangana vs Andhra, a legal luminary is not judged by his acumen, training or character but by his nativity. The judge’s “Andhra = Anti-Telangana’’ stance gives a sense of the complete breakdown in relations. It reflected in the memorandum given by the Judges association to the Governor of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, which said : “We feel we are working under the High Court of Andhra Pradesh and not under the High Court of both states. We are afraid of their future intervention in political and executive administration of Telangana. We cannot work under Andhra judicial rulers.’’ [caption id=“attachment_2832370” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Hyderabad High Court. Picture: High Court of Judicature Hyderabad website[/caption] In this tit for tat that the battle between the High court and the Telangana judicial officers has reduced to, nearly 200 senior and junior judges in Telangana have gone on leave for 15 days, starting Wednesday, in protest against the suspension of judges. Experts say to cast aspersions on the integrity of Andhra judges is to inflict serious damage on the institution of an impartial judiciary. Political analyst K Nageshwar says a divide of this nature within the judiciary will cause more harm than politicians from both states trading charges. “When identity politics creeps into legislature and the executive, can judiciary be insulated from it? This kind of language is uncalled for and if it persists, will only lead to more animosity,” says Nageshwar. India is looking closely at Hyderabad. With dismay. Former chief justice of the Patna High Court, Justice Narasimha Reddy says the institution of judiciary has been dented seriously by the name calling. He however, says Telangana judicial officers are not the only ones to be blamed for the acrimony. Pointing to the refusal of the judicial officers to approach the High court or Supreme court for justice, Justice Reddy says, “An independent social scientist can imagine the amount of neutrality and respect which our premier judicial institutions are commanding.” The problem arose when the High court proactively asked for service options from judicial officers from both states. The court’s argument is that though united Andhra Pradesh has been bifurcated, the High court has not been divided, which means judicial officers can be posted anywhere in the two states. However, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in his letter to Union Law minister DV Sadananda Gowda points out that domicile should be the criterion for allotment. In response to the court’s directive on service options, many officers from Andhra opted to serve in Telangana. The court then issued the list of provisional allotment of judges to lower courts in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on 5 May. 335 judicial officers were allotted to Telangana and 495 to Andhra Pradesh. Telangana was livid when it noticed that of the 335 in the Telangana pool, 130 were officers of Andhra nativity. In this atmosphere of trust deficit and suspicion, it is natural that conspiracy theories are having a field day. Representatives of the Judges association allege the hand of a senior judge from Andhra Pradesh serving in the Supreme court, putting pressure on the High court to post Andhra judges in Telangana. “Having been driven out of Telangana, Andhra politicians are trying to control Telangana through the judiciary,’’ says a judge. When you look closely at the allotment of district judges, the conspiracy theory does not seem outlandish. According to the Telangana Judges association, the 234 district judges in united Andhra Pradesh should have been divided in the 42:58 ratio, which would mean 94 judges to Telangana and 140 to Andhra. However, it says, the HC appointed 102 district judges to Telangana but only 84 to Andhra, leaving 46 vacancies. What’s more, it claims that of the 102 in Telangana, 72 are of Andhra origin and only 30 from Telangana. MP of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti K Kavitha alleges that the allotment is part of a long-term plan. “Younger judges from Andhra have been posted in Telangana, while those close to retirement have been posted in Andhra,’’ says Kavitha. The motive, Telangana legal pugilists say, is to deny promotions to officers from the state. “The fear is that in the next decade, no district judge from Telangana will get promoted to High court judge,’’ says L Ravichander, a senior lawyer who practises at the High court. The Centre has lobbed the ball into Andhra Pradesh’s court, arguing that unless Chandrababu Naidu identifies land to construct his state’s High court in and around Amaravati, the bifurcation cannot take place. Will it be back to business in Telangana courts anytime soon? Will courts be akharas of bitterness and hatred, when they start functioning? Ravichander believes that once the dust settles down, after hopefully some assurances and rollback, lawyers will not mind bowing down with a stiff upper lip to say “Your Honour”. Till then, the street will continue to be the stage for Telangana’s judiciary.