VH creates ruckus in High Court

Hyderabad: Senior Congress leader and Member of Parliament V Hanumantha Rao created ruckus in the first court of High Court at Hyderabad during the hearing of a petition challenging the continuation of Appa Rao as Vice Chancellor of University of Hyderabad. VH himself was the petitioner in the case and came to the court hall to watch the proceedings.

As the division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Dilip B Bhosale and Justice P Naveen Rao was posing tough questions to the counsel for petitioner C Damodar Reddy, an irritated VH made loud remarks from the visitors enclosure saying that more than 600 persons have gone to jail for the sake of one person.

“Arrest me also, I am prepared to go to jail”, he said. When the Acting CJ enquired as to who was making these statements, VH himself announced loudly that he was a Member of Parliament and tried to go forward to address the judges. Even as his counsel tried to prevent him from coming forward, the Acting CJ called for police to evict VH.

At this point VH made a silent exit from the court. Earlier the division bench sought to know from the counsel for petitioner the provision which mandates that a VC facing criminal charges cannot continue in his position pending enquiry.

The bench questioned the need for social activists and other leaders to visit the campus and underlined that universities and campuses are meant for students and not for such activities. The bench however admitted the petition and directed issue of notices to respondents and posted the matter to post vacation