Justice Praveen Kumar appointed as Chief Justice of AP

Hyderabad: A day after the gazette notification dividing the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana issued, President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday appointed Justice Praveen Kumar as the acting Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh.

The President, in a separate order, appointed Justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan as Chief Justice of Telangana high court. Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice V Ramasubramanian, who are from other High Courts and presently working in the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad, will continue to work in the High Court for the State of Telangana in Hyderabad.

The new high court will start functioning from the old camp office of AP Chief Minister in Amaravati from the appointed day on January 1. The new temporary high court building will be ready in the AP capital Amaravati by January 15. As the court observe holidays from Jan 4 to 17, only vacation court will function these days. Already barricades at old CM camp office have been removed and necessary arrangements are being made.

Meanwhile, advocates, hailing from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, practicing in the high court of judicature in Hyderabad staged a dharna in the court premises demanding the postponement of the appointed day of the AP high court. 

The advocates union took strong exception to shifting the AP high court to Amaravati without providing basic infrastructure like court building and residential campus for judges and other logistic support. As a mark of protest, the advocates also stalled the court proceedings by boycotting their duties the whole day.