Amaravati: Chief Justice Jitendra Kumar Maheswari gets angry over leakage of password of video conference

Nelapadu (Amaravati): High Court Chief Justice Jitendra Kumar Maheswari expressed his ire over the leakage of password to the video-conferencing while hearing the arguments on Wednesday in connection with the curtailing of tenure of former State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar.

The Division Bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Jitendra Kumar Maheswari and Nynala Jayasurya heard the arguments of the counsels of six petitioners and was about to hear the arguments of the rest of the petitioners. When noted advocate Vedula Venkata Ramana started his argument, the Chief Justice heard voices of several advocates at one time during the video-conferencing.

The irate Chief Justice wanted to know how the other advocates joined the video-conference though the password was given to only 10 advocates. He questioned as to how 40 advocates could join the video-conference unless the password was deliberately leaked. He got angry when the crosstalk was heard while the counsels were putting forward the arguments.

The Chief Justice posted the hearing for May 4 and announced that the Division Bench would hear the arguments in the court hall itself. He said that the counsels for the petitioners would be given entry passes by the Director General of Police.

When it was pointed out that some of the counsels need to come from Hyderabad, he said that a letter would be written to the Telangana DGP. He instructed the advocates to maintain social distance while presenting their arguments in the court hall on Monday. It may be recalled that former State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar filed a writ petition over his removal from the post on the pretext of electoral reforms by issuing an ordinance.