‘AP High Court registry is corrupt’

By S. A. Ishaqui
Hyderabad July 17: Chief Justice A.R. Dave of the AP High Court on Thursday was taken aback when a senior advocate alleged "corruption" in the High Court registry.

The Chief Justice admitted that there were some "defects" while listing cases and providing order copies to advocates.

E.V. Bhagirath Rao, 72, a practising lawyer in the High Court for over 48 years, submitted before a division bench comprising Chief Justice Dave and Justice R. Subhash Reddy that not a single paper moves in and out without bribing some registry staff. "No one bothers to look at how the registry is functioning. My colleagues suffer badly to get cases listed on time and get order copies to file appeals and communicate with clients," he said.
When the advocate tried to make further allegations, Justice Subhash Reddy intervened and told him he had no right to make a submission on corruption.

He further said: "There is no need for a writ to bring the malfunctions to our notice. You can make representation or simply walk into the chambers of the Chief Justice to sort out the issue". Justice Dave said things cannot be changed over night.

He said he was also part of the institution and recalled experiences in Gujarat where an order copy could not be secured by an advocate in 24 hours while an outsider could get it in no time.
Keeping in mind such experiences, a facility of getting an order within 24 hours was introduced in the Gujarat High Court.

He said would try to implement the the system in the High Court as well and assured that he would rectify the defects in the registry. The Chief Justice invited the advocate to his chambers to explain about the malfunctions.

The petitioner informed the court that his petitions were not listed for the past five years despite several representations and requests. He cited a few examples in the petition on how the registry was delaying order copies.

He alleged that the registry had no respect for the orders of judges. The Chief Justice asked the petitioner to wait for two weeks to hear his case while he set right the registry.