Andhra Pradesh ready to set up temporary High Court

VIJAYAWADA:  The Andhra Pradesh government has in principle agreed to set up a High Court for the state in Amaravati for the time being.Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the AP government was proposing to convey to the present TS & AP High Court in Hyderabad that it had identified certain buildings where it can commence operations on a temporary basis. Once the buildings are offered, the AP High Court can shift on a temporary basis.

Replying to Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MPs who have demanded a separate High Court for Telangana on the floor of the Lok Sabha on Thursday, the Union Law Minister said attempts were being made by the AP government for the construction of a new building for a High Court in the state. “Of course, the Centre will give requisite funds for the construction of the High Court as well as the Secretariat, Raj Bhavan and others,” the Minister said.

“But, as far as the High Court division is concerned, the Telangana High Court will continue to function on the present premises in Hyderabad and it is the AP Chief Minister who has to take a decision on relocating the High Court to Andhra Pradesh,” he said. When TRS floor leader Jithender Reddy sought an assurance from the Centre that until separate high courts are set up, no judge would be appointed or elevated, the Law Minister said the matter was the prerogative of the Supreme Court collegium and so he could not give any assurance.

Intervening at this stage, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology YS Chowdary urged the Centre to address all the issues mentioned in the AP State Reorganisation Act apart from the issue of separate High Courts.Even as Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan reminded him of his ministerial position before he stood up to put forth his views relating to the issue as TDP leader, Chowdary went on to say, “So many issues mentioned in the AP State Reorganisation Act were not addressed. I must put on record thanking the Centre for implementing the issues partly.

But as a majority of the issues like delimitation of constituencies, revenue deficit, special category status and others still remain pending, we request the Centre to consider High Court along with all other issues.”
Responding to this, Home Minister Rajnath Singh suggested that the CMs of both the Telugu states sit together to resolve issues concerning bifurcation, except the HC matter.

Inspection of buildings
Meanwhile, it is learnt that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu wrote a letter to High Court Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan to inspect the proposed buildings for temporary functioning of High Court. The state government, which has finalised the design of the permanent building for High Court, is preparing the ground to relocate the HC to Amaravati within six months, sources said.