VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday ordered an inquiry by a retired judge of the Supreme Court to get to the bottom of an alleged telephonic conversation between retired High Court judge Justice Eswaraiah and S Ramakrishna, a principal junior civil judge who is under suspension, over a letter sent to President Ram Nath Kovind by the All India Backward Classes Federation against the High Court Chief Justice.
A division bench, comprising Justice M Satyanarayana Murthy and Justice K Lalitha issued the orders, entrusting the responsibility of the inquiry to Justice RV Ravindran. The bench directed the court registry to contact Justice Ravindran and secure his acceptance. It also directed the CBI and the Intelligence Bureau to be available so as to help the inquiry as and when required.
The orders came in the wake of a petition filed by the SC, ST, BC, Minorities Federation president Lakshmi Narasaiah seeking declaration of the court premises a red zone. Ramakrishna had filed an implead petition when the court was examining the sustainability of Narasiah’s plea. Subsequently, Ramakrishna’s implead plea was allowed.
When the hearing resumed on the petition, the court decided that the authenticity of the alleged telephonic conversation between Justice Eswaraiah and Ramakrishna must be verified. In its orders, the court observed that people may lose trust in the judiciary if such things were not probed.
Red zone plea rejected
The High Court on Thursday rejected the petition filed by the SC, ST, BC, Minorities Federation seeking declaration of the court premises a red zone in view of the Covid pandemic. The court ruled that the High Court registry had taken all measures recommended by the Central government and hence, it was not possible to declare the court premises a red zone.
It further noted that such a declaration would mean closure of the court and citing a recent Supreme Court verdict, it said closing the court amounts to making justice inaccessible. The High Court also refused to give directions for imposing curfew to contain the pandemic.
It also observed that in the wake of the death of former registrar general, coronavirus tests were conducted for everyone, including the judges. Of them, only 30 had tested positive and they too have recovered and have been attending to their duties since their recovery.