Andhra Pradesh, Telangana get separate high courts

Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, January 1

Over four years after the bifurcation that led to the creation of Telangana, the High Courts that served the two states was on Tuesday split into independent High Courts to serve each state.

Governor E S L Narasimhan administered the oath of office to Acting Chief Justice C Praveen Kumar and 13 other judges at a function held in the twin cities Amravati and Vijayawada.

Earlier in the day before flying to Vijaywada, Governor Narsimhan administered the oath of office to Chief Justice Justice Thottathil Bhaskaran Nair Radhakrishnan as the first Chief justice of Telangana High Court at Hyderabad. Judges were also administered oath of offices at both Hyderabad and Amravati.

With this the total number of High Courts functioning in the country has risen to 25. Till now, the high court at Hyderabad had been functioning as the common high court for both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Andhra Pradesh has got 16 judges that include 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 remaining judges who will work in Telangana  High Court are: 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.

President Ram Nath Kovind had last week issued orders for a separate High Court of Andhra Pradesh.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu called it a “historic day”. “I am very happy legal administration is beginning in the state today. With the inauguration of the high court, the state bifurcation process has come to an end, barring distribution of assets,” he said.

As the temporary building to accommodate the high court in the state capital here was not ready yet, the state government converted chief minister’s camp office in Vijayawada into ad-hoc court premises.

The Supreme Court had on Monday refused to take up for immediate hearing a petition filed by Andhra Pradesh Lawyers’ Association for postponing the shifting of High Court to Amaravati till the construction of High Court building was completed there. The Supreme Court will take up the petition for hearing on Wednesday.