Obulapuram mining case: 3 Telangana HC judges recuse themselves in single day

Hyderabad: In an unprecedented event, the Telangana High Court witnessed three judges recusing themselves from hearing the Obulapuram illegal mining case on the same day.

This is the first time such a situation has occurred in the court’s history.

The case involves appeals filed by convicts BV Srinivasareddy, Gali Janardhan Reddy, OMC Company, Mefaz Ali Khan, and VD Rajagopal, seeking suspension of the seven-year prison sentence imposed by the CBI court on May 6 for their involvement in illegal mining activities in the Bellary Reserve Forest area of Anantapur district.

Justice K. Sharat, Justice Alisetti Lakshminarayana, and Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka all recused themselves from hearing the petitions on Wednesday. The case began with Justice Nandikonda Narsing Rao hearing the appeals on the 21st of this month.

Senior advocates for the convicts argued that since their clients had already served more than three-and-a-half years in jail and were previously granted bail, it was customary to suspend the sentence and grant bail for sentences under seven years.

However, Justice Narsing Rao deferred the hearing, stating that he could not issue orders without hearing the CBI’s arguments.

Subsequently, the petitions were placed before Justice K. Sharat, who directed the registry to assign the cases to another judge.

The cases were then brought before Justice Alisetti Lakshminarayana, who also recused himself in the evening. Finally, the advocates approached Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka, who, after reviewing the files, confirmed that the case was related to the Obulapuram mining scam and also recused himself.

As a result, the bail petitions remain pending, and the convicts will have to wait for another week for their arguments to be heard. Senior advocates representing Gali Janardhan Reddy and other convicts, along with the CBI counsel, waited throughout the day for a hearing.