VIJAYAWADA: A division bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court headed by Chief Justice Prasanth Kumar Mishra on Monday rapped the vacation bench for hurriedly hearing the petition challenging GO 1, issued by the State government, in violation of its orders with regard to the nature of the cases that are heard during vacations.
Finding fault with the vacation bench, the CJ said it acted as a de facto Chief Justice by taking up the GO 1 case. The division bench said hearing a plea against the orders during vacations is belittling the position of the Chief Justice. “It is not a matter that can be taken lightly. If such things are allowed, every vacation judge will act like a Chief Justice,” the division bench observed.
Chief Justice Mishra said the HC registry has been updating him on the developments in the case. He added there is a need to act tough on matters that are exclusively reserved to a Chief Justice. “If every vacation court takes up any matter saying it’s important then what would happen to the institution,” the Chief Justice questioned.
The division bench made these comments while hearing the petition filed by CPI State secretary K Ramakrishna challenging the GO 1 issued by the State government restricting public meetings on highways and roads.
CJ raps vacation bench, says need to act tough
The petition was filed before the vacation bench of Justice Battu Devanand and Justice V Radhakrishna Krupa Sagar on January 12 and the bench issued interim orders suspending the GO till January 23.
The State government had challenged the interim orders before the Supreme Court, which directed the bench of Chief Justice of AP to hear the petition.
Petitioners counsel Raju Ramachandran informed the court that the vacation court has the powers to hear a petition when it feels that the actions of government suppress the fundamental rights of a citizen. Ramachandran said political parties have the right to meet and interact with people and the government has been trying to usurp the rights through the GO.
Advocate General S Sriram informed the court that they have raised objection over the hearing of the plea by the vacation court but the same was turned down. Sriram said that a vacation court takes up hearing of cases that are urgent in nature only after taking permission of the Chief Justice, however, the same was not followed in the present case.
Advocate General said there was no ban on public meetings but the GO was issued in view of the loss of lives during the roadshow held by TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu at Kandukur.After Sriram ended his arguments, the petitioners counsel sought interim orders with respect to GO 1.