VIJAYAWADA: Justice R Raghunandan Rao of the Andhra Pradesh High Court recused himself from hearing a writ petition filed by Praja Shanti Party founder president KA Paul seeking a ban on roadshows and public meetings in the State. Initially, the high court registry objected to the petition being filed as a writ petition instead of a PIL and placed it before Justice Raghunandan Rao as per the roster on Thursday.
After going through the petition, the judge said it should come in the form of PIL and at the same time recused himself from hearing it. Justice Raghunandan Rao said he is recusing from hearing the petition as the petitioner was his client previously. He also rejected the plea of the petitioner’s counsel for direction to the registry to list it for Friday.