HYDERABAD:Hearing of cases at the Hyderabad High Court almost came to a standstill on Thursday as majority members of the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana High Court Advocates’ Associations decided to abstain from court work. They also undertook a rally from the HC gate to Gulzar Houz demanding existing vacancies of judges to be filled and a regular Chief Justice to be appointed. As a result of the protest, majority of cases listed for hearing were adjourned to a later date.
The decision to boycott court work on March 1 and 2 was adopted at the extraordinary general body meeting of the association held on February 27. Apart from filling of vacancies, they also demanded the withdrawal of amendment made to Sec 41 of CrPC which gives enormous powers to the police to deal with an accused. Other demands were also raised. “If the Centre and SC do not take any steps in this regard, we will discuss the issues again after 15 days,” said members. The ACJ said that the court will hear the cases if the advocates are willing to submit their arguments. If no advocates attend to their cases then the court will adjourn such cases but will not dismiss them, the ACJ noted.