Centre confirms AP\'s plea to shift High Court to Kurnool

VIJAYAWADA: Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju confirmed on Friday that the Centre has received a proposal from the Andhra Pradesh Government to shift the state High Court from Amaravati to Kurnool.

He stated this in reply to a query raised by YSRCP MPs Kotagiri Sridhar and Chinta Anuradha in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

The YSR Congress government is continuing its efforts to implement the Three Capitals formula under its distributed development policy.

Minister Rijiju said the shifting of the high court to Kurnool can be taken by the state government in consultation with the high court. All the administrative expenses of the high court should be borne by the state government. Once the state government and the high court arrives at a decision, the proposal can be forwarded to the Centre for its approval, the minister said.

Minister Rijiju said the Union government did not receive details of the proposal from the state government on shifting of the HC to Kurnool.

The Jagan government had proposed Kurnool as the Judicial Capital of AP under the Three Capitals concept in January 2020. It proposed  Visakhapatnam as Administrative Capital and Amaravati as Legislative Capital.

There, however, is opposition from the Amaravati farmers and political parties against Three Capitals formula. Many petitions were filed in the APHC and during the hearing of the cases, the AP government withdrew the bills relating to Three Capitals.

Later the HC, in its verdict, directed the state government to develop Amaravati as AP’s capital.

Now, the fresh plea from the state government to the Centre for the setting up of the high court in Kurnool meant the Jagan-led dispensation will stick to its formula to have three capitals.