New Year Gift: High Court bifurcated for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

Hyderabad: President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday notified the principal seat of the separate High Court for Andhra Pradesh at Amaravati, the state capital, taking yet another step towards the bifurcation of the court.

The AP High Court, the 25th in the country, is to start functioning from January 1, 2019, along with the Telangana State High Court.

However, the notification led to confusion as the construction work of the new High Court building at Nelapadu near Amaravati is yet to get final shape with four days to go for the commencement date. 

The allocation of employees is also yet to be completed. Andhra Pradesh-origin employees of the High Court will have to go to Amaravati, according to this notification.

The President approved the allocation of judges, including Uttarakhand Chief Justice Justice Ramesh Ranganathan to the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

The others are Justices C. Praveen Kumar, S.V. Bhatt,  A.V. Sesha Sai, Dama Seshadri Naidu (presently working on transfer as judge, Kerala High Court), Justice M. Seetharama Murti, U. Durga Prasad Rao, T. Sunil Chowdary, M. Satyanarayana Murthy,  G. Shyam Prasad, J. Uma Devi, N. Balayogi, T. Rajani, D.V.S.S. Somayajulu  K. Vijaya Lakshmi and M. Ganga Rao. 

The following judges are for the Telangana  High Court: Justices P.V. Sanjay Kumar, M.S. Ramachandra Rao, Justice A . Rajasheker Reddy, P. Naveen Rao, Challa Kodandaram, B. Siva Sankara Rao, Dr Shameem Akther, P. Keshava Rao, Abhinand Kumar Shavili, T. Amarnath Goud.

Justice R. Subhash Reddy, who has been elevated as judge of the Supreme Court, had the option to work in Telangana State.

The President approved the Constitution of the separate High Courts in pursuance of Article 214 of the Constitution and the orders issued by the Supreme Court in Union of India vs T. Dhangopal and others. 

The order was also issued under the provisions of clause (a) of sub-section (1) of Section 30, sub-section (1) of Section 31 and sub-section (2) of Section 31 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.

The Supreme Court held that there was no embargo for the competent authority to issue a notification bifurcating the Hyderabad High Court.