HC serious over senior counsel, AG

‘The remark by AG’s office on judge hailing from AP is highly unbecoming’

Senior counsel Vedula Venkataramana and Telangana Advocate General B.S. Prasad invited the wrath of High Court on Tuesday over the contentions they made in a writ petition challenging State government’s order on use of Krishna water for hydel power generation. A bench of Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy found fault with senior counsel appearing for the petitioners and the AG representing Telangana government before declaring that it would hear the petition and fix the date. Two farmers from Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh moved the House Motion two days ago by filing a writ petition which questioned the GO 34 issued by State government for withdrawal of Krishna water for irrigation or hydel power generation needs. The HC did not permit the House Motion. Mr. Vedula Venkataramana made a mention of the plea before a division bench of Justices M.S. Ramachandra Rao and T. Vinod Kumar on Monday. This second division bench of the HC took up hearing of the matter brushing aside objections raised by the AG who said it should be taken up by the First Court (a bench headed by the CJ) as per the roster. The bench posted the matter to Tuesday, instructing counsel to study the Supreme Court verdict on inter-State water disputes to take a call on the petition’s maintainability. Before the second bench began hearing the petition (which was listed as second item for Tuesday), the AG made a mention about the plea before the First Court headed by the CJ and requested that it should hear the matter. He contended that as per the roster, the content of the petition comes under First Court. The Chief Justice told the AG to inform Mr. Vedula Venkataramana of the mention he had made.