Andhra Pradesh High Court takes serious view of Speaker's remarks on judiciary

Nelapadu (Amaravati): The Division Bench of Andhra Pradesh High Court consisting of Justice Rakesh Kumar and Justice Uma Devi opined that it was not proper on the part of Speaker of Andhra Pradesh Assembly Tammineni Sitaram being in a responsible position to pass irresponsible comments on the functioning of the High Court.

The division bench was hearing a writ petition filed by the High Court registry against the media, people's representatives, in the social media and the social media accounts run by the YSR Congress, on Thursday.

The division bench made it clear that if the CID failed to perform its duty, the case might be transferred to the CBI for investigation. When asked, the standing counsel informed the High Court that the Speaker made those remarks while addressing the media at Tirumala. The court would take suitable action as per the Constitution whether it was the Speaker or anyone else, the bench said.

"It appears a war was launched against the judiciary in the state," the bench remarked.

Advocate General S Sriram informed the bench that there was no evidence to suggest that there was a conspiracy behind the social media postings against the judiciary. Stating that the government had a lot of respect towards the judiciary, the advocate general said that it was unfortunate that the judiciary delivered such opinions. In case of allegations against such persons, they could be made parties to listen to their arguments, he said. "The government has no objection to handing over the case to the CBI," he added.

It may be recalled that the High Court registry while filing the writ petition mentioned that the Speaker, MP Vijayasai Reddy and several ministers attacked the judiciary in a systematic manner.