High Court in state still a distant dream

Vijayawada: The dream of High Court in Andhra Pradesh still remains a distant dream. The bifurcation of state has not resulted in realisation of this dream, not even in near future. The people of Rayalaseema and north Andhra have long been demanding High Court in one of the 13 districts of the state.

Highlights:

• It is likely to take years to build a new HC at Amaravati and transfer pending cases
• There had been demand for HC bench in AP even before the bifurcation of the state

A proposal to set up High Court bench at Guntur suffered a blow with separate Telangana agitation and division of the state. Though there has been a talk of building a Justice City in the new capital Amaravati, it is unlikely that it would be reality in the coming years.

It would take many years to build the court complex and transfer 60 per cent of pending cases along with it. Setting up a temporary High Court on the lines of temporary Secretariat is not possible either as amendment to law and Parliament nod are necessary.

Famous criminal lawyer Karnati Rammohan Rao told ‘The Hans India’ that former Chief Minister N T Rama Rao was keen on setting up a High Court bench in Guntur. In fact, after separation from united Madras State, Andhra Pradesh High Court was set up at Guntur. “It was shifted to Hyderabad in 1956.

In 1992, when I was president of Bezwada Bar Association (BBA), lawyers in all 13 Andhra districts agitated for HC bench at Guntur. I am the convener of the agitation and it was the then N T Rama Rao promised to set up a bench in Guntur,” he said.

Recalling incidents in 2012, the senior advocate said that advocates all over AP had boycotted courts for 80 days demanding HC bench in Guntur. “Advocates of Telangana opposed such a bench. The AP rulers must have realised by then the significance of HC bench here. Now, there are about 80,000 cases pending in HC with about 10,000 cases being added every year,” he added.

Former president of BBA Chalasani Ajay Kumar said even after three years of bifurcation, there were still some issues not settled as per AP Reorganisation Act. “Board of Intermediate Education and fisheries department are some examples that need to be sorted out. Andhra Pradesh has to receive value of its assets in Telangana.

The bifurcation Act needs amendment and Parliament must pass it in order to set up a temporary HC in our state. An initiative of passing a resolution in Assembly and forwarding the same to the Centre is a prerequisite to shift HC to a temporary premise,” he elaborated.

Puppala Srinivasa Rao, former BBA secretary, alleged that there might be some political reasons on the part of the state government for not taking initiative to ease burden of distant travel to reach HC. He said, “A few judges have been appointed during the stint of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

A few cases are pending against the party leaders which can influence their future. If the HC is allowed to continue in Hyderabad for few a more years, they may get benefitted.

HC can be shifted temporarily to Acharya Nagarjuna University, if they are really interested to cut short the distance to reach HC from 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh,” he explained.

Kandula Srinivasa Rao, BBA general secretary also expressed the need for fast shifting of HC to Andhra Pradesh as clients here have been suffering.

By Noor Shaik