It goes without saying that when the elected governments and people’s representatives fail, the ordinary public go to the courts for justice. In the twin Telugu States, it has become a routine for different sections of society including the Opposition parties to knock at the doors of courts on problems, both big and small. As days pass by, the cases seeking redressal from injustice caused by the governments were only on the increase. It has come to just a sorry pass that at times, the High Courts could not take up cases other than those concerned with the policies of the ruling regimes.

In this context, as expected, there has been mounting pressure on the Chief Justices of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to rescue the public and Opposition leaders from the arbitrary and often suppressive policies of the majority parties. Accordingly, both the CJs were trying to give some hope to the aggrieved parties within their own constitutional limitations. Telangana CJ R.S. Chauhan has even stepped out of his constitutional mandate and made a personal request to KCR to resolve RTC employees’ problem with a humanitarian consideration.

Similarly, AP High Court under the leadership of CJ J.K. Maheswari was delivering landmark judgements like ordering the reinstatement of State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar. The conflict between the Jagan Reddy regime and the AP High Court came to such a flash point now that if the Governor does not reinstate Ramesh Kumar, then the HC itself might go ahead to formally restore the SEC post to Ramesh Kumar.

In his latest Weekend Comment, ABN Radha Krishna says that the CJs of Telugu States were facing peculiar challenges that are not seen in any other part of the country. This was solely because the twin CMs were both riding roughshod on all systems including justice delivery with their inimitable ‘evasive gimmicks’ and ‘Maya Maschindra’ magic.