The judges submitted a memorandum to Governor E S L Narasimhan. (Source: PTI) The judges submitted a memorandum to Governor E S L Narasimhan. (Source: PTI)

The agitation demanding cancellation of a provisional list of judicial officers appointed in Telangana judiciary intensified Tuesday as the High Court in Hyderabad suspended nine more lower court judges on disciplinary grounds.

The High Court had suspended two lower court judges Monday. As Tuesday’s disciplinary action came, 200 judicial officers in Telangana decided to go on a mass leave for 15 days.

For the first time in the state, scenes of judges in their robes protesting outside courts were witnessed Tuesday morning, while outside the High Court some protesting judges were removed from the spot by the police.

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So far, 11 judges — district, senior civil, and junior civil — have been suspended for protesting despite acting Chief Justice Dilip P Bhosale taking a serious view of the conduct of the judges and their violation of the code of conduct.

Those suspended include Telangana Judicial Officers Association president K Ravinder Reddy, who is IV Metropolitan Magistrate at Nampally Criminal Courts, and general secretary G Varaprasad, Additional Civil Judge at Ranga Reddy courts. Their suspension led to further escalation of the stan-off against judicial officers hailing from Andhra Pradesh being posted in Telangana.

The others who were suspended were Srinivas Reddy, Senior Civil Judge at City Civil Court; Chandrasekhar Prasad, Senior Civil Judge at City Civil Court; Radhakrishna Chowhan, Metropolitan Magistrate; R Thirupathi, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate; D Ramakanth, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate; S Saritha, District Judge, Nizamabad; P Raju, Judicial Magistrate, Kurnool; and G Venu, Metropolitan Magistrate at Medchal.

“After our colleagues were suspended, we, the members of Telangana Judicial Officers Association, held a general body meeting today afternoon,” a suspended judge said. “Of the 200-odd members 150 attended and the rest who could not attend extended their support. It was resolved in the meeting that all judges of Telangana will go on mass casual leave for 15 days starting today. Come what may, we will not relent.

“The HC is threatening us with disciplinary action but we are willing to face that. There is no going back on this. We will stick to our demand to withdraw the provisional list of judges hailing from AP appointed to Telangana judiciary.”

Apart from the judges, several Telangana advocates are also protesting on the matter. Advocate Jaya Vindhyala was arrested for protesting at the no-protest zone outside the High Court. She is likely to start her hunger strike Wednesday.

Meanwhile, K Kavitha, MP and daughter of Telangana CM K Chandrasekhara Rao, told The Indian Express that even though Telangana became a separate state, people from Andhra Pradesh were still trying to exert their influence.

“Some judges are opting to work in Hyderabad and Telangana instead of AP. The AP government is trying to control things in Telangana even now,’’ said Kavitha, adding that the HC must be bifurcated immediately to avoid further confrontation between judges and High Court.

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