Some struggled to hold tears, a few wept and many tried to hide their sadness by putting a brave smile.
An aura of sentiments and emotions filled the sprawling front yards of the imposing Hyderabad High Court building on the bank of Musi in Old City as its nearly 300 employees boarded buses bound for Vijayawada on Monday. They were allocated to the newly constituted Andhra Pradesh High Court which will start functioning from New Year day.
With the new HC slated to begin from the AP Chief Minister's Camp Office in Vijayawada city from Tuesday, the employees had to start on Monday from the Hyderabad HC. More than the over 225 km journey, all of them were apparently upset over leaving the Hyderabad HC which they served for years.
“Feeling bad, but cannot help. Let us meet up again and be in touch,” were the common parting wishes. As the fleet of buses entered the building to ferry them, some couldn't control tears. Office boys and attenders too had tough time loading vehicles with loads of file bundles. Some of them had to finish the work and get into the buses for Vijayawada.
Those allocated for the new HC for Telangana too were there bidding adieu to their colleagues heading for Vijayawada. Some employees hailing from Telangana but allocated to AP HC met the authorities to consider their retention. But they had to return to the buses disappointed on being told that their request cannot be honoured now.
Coconuts broken
Earlier in the day, the Chief Justice of Hyderabad HC Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and other judges adjourned their respective courts after attending to urgent matters. Led by the CJ, 12 judges allotted to the HC for Telangana (which is also commencing from Tuesday) came to the front yards of the building to see off 14 judges allotted to AP High Court.
Acting Chief Justice of AP High Court, C. Praveen Kumar and the Hyderabad HC CJ Radhakrishnan broke coconuts as the journey of judges in cars with escort police began. For a few moments, an eerie silence reigned there followed by shake-hands and hugs.
Though a separate State for Telangana was created on June 2, 2014 out of erstwhile united AP, the two Telugu states had unified Hyderabad HC.
Five days ago, a presidential order was issued notifying constitution of separate HCs for Telangana and AP at Hyderabad and Amaravathi respectively.
Both High Courts were to commence functioning on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, lawyer P.V. Krishnaiah moved the Hyderabad High Court, seeking deferment of the division.
It was heard and dismissed by a division bench headed by Justice V. Ramasubramanian.
