HC displeased with state

Shifting of TS cases from APAT angers HC

The Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday sought to know from the TS government under which provisions of law it wrote to the Centre to delete the state from the jurisdiction of the AP Administrative Tribunal and transfer over 8,670 cases of the state before the APAT to the High Court without consulting the High Court.

A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice U. Durga Prasad Rao was hearing three separate petitions moved by P.V. Krishnaiah and B. Kiran Kumar, both practising advocates of the city, and another, challenging the notification of the Centre issued on September 15, 2016 deleting Telangana state from the jurisdiction of the Tribunal.

When TS advocategeneral K. Ramakrishna Reddy informed the bench that the Centre has issued the notification based on a request by the state government, Justice Ranganathan questioned how could the TS government make such a request without consulting the High Court.

The ACJ pointed out that the High Court has been already burdened with hundreds of pending cases and adding the cases of APAT would surely mount more pressure on the judges to dispose of the cases.

The bench asked the assistant solicitor-general appearing for the Centre how the Centre could mechanically delete the TS from the jurisdiction of the APAT without seeking clarification with regard to the fate of the pending cases.

When the ASG replied that the Centre had issued the notification at the request of the state government and once the Tribunal is abolished, the pending cases will naturally be transferred to the HC, the bench expressed displeasure and asked the ASG to show the law which permits the transfer of cases to the HC.

Mr Reddy submitted that the state government has sought advice from the High Court before writing to the Centre.

The bench questioned the AG why the TS government did not wait for the advice from the HC.

While stating that it was a policy decision of the state government, the A-G cited the example of the Tamil Nadu before the bench and said after abolition of tribunal all the pending cases before the tribunal were transferred to the High Court.

The bench told the AG to place those details before it by Thursday.

THE BENCH expressed displeasure at the Central and state governments for issuing the notification without considering the fate of the pending cases