Advocates intensified their month-long agitation demanding bifurcation of High Court by organising a ‘chalo Secretariat’ programme from Indira Park here on Wednesday. The police picked up 30 of them, including a few near the Secretariat, when they defied orders to march forward.
In a related development, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao called on Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan to apprise the latter about the delay in bifurcation of High Court which has led to selection of junior civil judges across the two States going unchecked. The police escorted a delegation of advocates after the programme to the Secretariat for a meeting with Law Minister A. Indrakaran Reddy wherein he stressed that land was not an issue for separate High Court as it will be allotted within 48 hours. The government did everything at its command, including meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to expedite the process but it did not succeed. M. Rajender Reddy, president of joint action committee of advocates, and other leaders insisted that the efforts of the government were not enough. They wanted the Minister to arrange a meeting of senior advocates with the Chief Minister to chalk out an action plan.