LAWYER'S BOYCOTT COURT

After boycotting courts across Greater Hyderabad, the Telangana Advocates Joint Action Committee (TAJAC) today gave a call for boycott of courts indefinitely across Telangana from tomorrow in support of their demand for a 42 percent share in legal posts. The TAJAC called upon the advocates from the region to come to the High Court to show their solidarity with the JAC.
The condition of three advocates -- Jyothi Kiran, Satyam Reddy and Vijay Kumar Goud -- who sat on an indefinite fast yesterday, is said to be serious.

The pro-Telangana advocates were demanding 42 percent share in the posts of additional government pleaders, government pleaders, public prosecutors and assistant public prosecutors in the courts. "We also demand that the post of Advocate General be given to a person from Telangana. No person from Telangana had been given the post in the past five decades," TAJAC co-convenor T Sriranga Rao told Express.

The TAJAC alleged that advocate general D V Sitarama Murthy had failed to solve their demands.

"We have submitted a representation to the advocate general nearly 20 days back and he assured us of looking into the issue. As there has been no response from him, we are forced to take up the protest," TAJAC joint convenor Ravula Venkat Reddy said.

Advocates in various courts in Hyderabad and Secunderabad boycotted work and staged protests. In the High Court, hundreds of advocates stalled the work in the court and staged a protest at the entrance. They also squatted on the main road in front of the High Court blocking traffic for sometime.

Mild tension prevailed when some advocates barged into the 32nd court in which Justice CV Nagarjuna Reddy was conducting the proceedings. "All the other courts stopped functioning but Nagarjuna Reddy was conducting the proceedings. After our request, even that court also stopped working," Venkat Reddy said.

Reacting to the reports that the protesting advocates had ransacked the furniture in the court room, Venkat Reddy denied the same and said it was a creation of non-Telangana advocates to malign their image.

TAJAC co-convenor M S Tirumal Rao said they would not stop their fight till their demands were met.

At the Criminal Courts Complex at Nampally, pro-Telangana advocates boycotted courts and did not allow any work till afternoon. They squatted in the corridor and raised pro-Telangana slogans. They even obstructed some advocates who tried to attend the courts.

Advocates from the courts in Secunderabad, Saroornagar, Rajendranagar and City Civil Court at Purani Haveli took out processions to the High Court and joined the protest. Advocates from Warangal and Nizamabad also joined the protest.