AP is ready to provide temporary buildings for Hyderabad High Court: Centre

Hyderabad: The long pending demand for the division of the Hyderabad High Court between Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh is at last set to materialise. Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad stated in the Lok Sabha on Thursday that the AP government would allow the AP High Court to be established in Amaravati on a temporary basis and has selected four buildings for the purpose. 

He said he had information that the AP government had sent the proposal to the acting Chief Justice of the High Court who in turn will send a team of experts and law officers to visit the four buildings and select one. The minister said once the selection is complete, the High Court would be established and function in AP till a permanent building comes up in the capital city. He said it is for the Supreme Court Collegium to allot judges to the High Courts. 

Mr Prasad said as per the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, the High Court located in Hyderabad would serve Telangana state. The Centre had already made funds available to AP to establish the AP High Court. Hailing the minister’s statement as well as the AP government’s proposal to provide temporary buildings for the AP High Court, TRS leader in the Lok Sabha A.P. Jitender Reddy said people of both states would cooperate with each other and requested the law minister to expedite the process of bifurcation of the High Court. 

The minister refused to give any assurance that till the bifurcation of the High Court takes place, transfers and promotions of judicial officers must be kept on hold as Mr Reddy demanded. He said the Supreme Court Collegium was authorised to make appointments and promotions and the Centre cannot intervene.

Union minister of state for science and technology Y.S. Chowdary then said that there were other pending issues and promises that need to be fulfilled, including delimitation of Assembly constituencies. Parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar replied that he was part of the Centre, and it should be the Telugu Desam’s Lok Sabha leader Thota Narasimham who should get a chance to speak.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan endorsed the view of Mr Ananth Kumar, but Mr Jitender Reddy said there was nothing wrong in Mr Chowdary’s remarks as there was every need to address other pending issues also. Union home minister Rajnath Singh immediately got up and said it would be better if the Chief Ministers of both states sat together and resolved the issues and the Centre was ready to cooperate.