Judges in Telangana have launched mass leave to protest against Andhra judges filling up court vacancies
Highlights
- Division of states incomplete, High Court yet to be divided: Telangana CM
- 200 judges in Telangana on leave, object to judges from Andhra Pradesh
- Telangana says Andhra using its judges to interfere with administration
In an escalating row with neighbour Andhra Pradesh over judges, K Chandrasekhara Rao, the Chief Minister of Telangana, has written to the Centre why he feels the creation of his state is "incomplete".
Mr Rao or KCR, as he is popularly referred to, has written to Home Minister Rajnath Singh saying that the Centre should divide judicial officers based on past instances of new states being carved out and according to the law under which Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated in 2014.
"The process initiated by the intent of Parliament to divide the state and create Telangana is incomplete as the division is limited to the executive and legislature only as the high court is yet to be divided," KCR writes.
More than 200 judges in Telangana have gone on leave; they say that vacancies in courts are being filled with Andhra judges in an attempt to influence politics and the administration of the newest state.
Since Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh, the two have bickered over how to share water, land and property in the rich IT hub of Hyderabad, which is assigned as a shared capital a decade, after which it will belong to Telangana.
KCR yesterday lashed out at the Centre and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, alleging that they are trying to control Telangana by not allowing to have its own high court and judges.
Union Law Minister Sadananda Gowda retorted that KCR is "behaving like Arvind Kejriwal" by threatening a sit-in protest in Delhi.
Over the weekend, nearly 130 judges from Telangana marched in Hyderabad in protest; over the last 24 hours, at least nine of them have been suspended.