Hyderabad, September 18: A division bench of the AP High Court comprising Justice V Eshwaraiah and Naushad Ali on Friday partly altered its order issued yesterday regulating entry of people into the High Court. The bench has permitted senior counsels and junior lawyers to enter the court premises even if their cases are not on the cause list of the day.
The bench was hearing a suo moto petition on the need to issue directions to take steps to forthwith regulate entry of advocates and litigant public into the High Court premises.
The bench heard various pleas of how junior and senior advocates were facing difficulty in entering the court in view of the curbs put in place.
Earlier in the day, many senior counsels and junior lawyers were not permitted into the court as their names were not there in the cause list. Even those who were allowed had to stand in long queues and subject themselves to identification by the police.
Reacting to pleas by counsels, including V Raghunath, Narasimha Sharma and Goverdhan Reddy (for the Bar Association), the bench said the court was left with no choice but to make the order. “Have the lawyers kept up the reputation of the courts?” Justice Eshwariah questioned. “What steps did lawyers and the Association take to protect the institution? Where were you when we were attacked and books hurled at us?” he further asked.
The court made it clear that it was not concerned with the demands of the striking lawyers as that was a matter between the lawyers and the government. It was only interested in ensuring that the functioning of the courts was not disturbed.
The bench posted the case to Monday for further hearing.
Meanwhile, a legal team of the government comprising Advocate General DV Sitaram Murthy and Additional Advocates General Satya Prasad and Harinath Gupta called on the Chief Justice. Late in the evening, the Chief Justice was closeted with the president of Bar Association D Prakash Reddy and Bar Council chairman A Narasimha Reddy. Prakash Reddy, in fact, was among those denied entry into the court due to the new curbs. He is a designated senior counsel but his name did not appear in the cause list.
Even the Counsel of the High Court G Vidyasagar had difficulty entering the court when the staff of the High Court posted at the entrance could not identify him. Vidyasagar’s presence was required before the division bench hearing the suo moto case as he represented the Registrary of the Court.
–Agencies