AP will have separate High Court from Jan 1, says SC

Come New Year and the state of Andhra Pradesh will have a separate High Court as the Supreme Court has given the green signal for issuing the notification to this effect.

It will be the 25th high court in the country and will initially function from a temporary structure till the permanent building comes up in the ambitious Justice City complex in the state's capital Amaravati.

Since the bifurcation of the state on June 2, 2014, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have had a common High Court situated at Hyderabad, the latter's capital city.

A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said that since all the requirements have been fulfilled, there is no embargo for the competent authority to issue a notification bifurcating the courts into the High Court of Telangana and High Court of Andhra Pradesh respectively.

"We expect such a notification to be issued by January 1, 2019, so that the two High Courts start functioning separately and High Court of Andhra Pradesh also starts functioning in the new building at the earliest", the bench said.

The court noted the submission of the state that the building, where the Andhra Pradesh High Court would be temporarily shifted would be ready by December 15.

"It is also clear that the Judges of the High Court, who would become Judges of High Court of Andhra Pradesh, are satisfied with the facilities in the said building inasmuch as Full Court of the High Court has approved the proposal after Inspection Committee of Judges submitted a report in this behalf," the bench said after perusing the affidavit of Andhra Pradesh said.

Senior advocate Fali S Nariman, appearing for the state of Andhra Pradesh, said that the government would be hiring villas to take care of the residential needs of the judges at Amaravati.

"We may place on record that in Amaravati a very big complex known as Justice City is under construction where the High Court and subordinate courts and even some tribunals would be accommodated and there is a provision for construction of residential complex for the Judges of the High Court and judicial officers of the subordinate courts," the bench said.

It said that hiring villas for residences of judges is an ad hoc arrangement till the Justice City gets completely constructed.

With the enactment of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated into two states, viz., State of Andhra Pradesh and the State of Telangana.

The Act, which had come into effect from June 2, 2014, has also a provision for separate High Courts for State of Telangana and State of Andhra Pradesh.

Hyderabad, which was the capital of the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh is now part of Telangana and has become its capital.

The existing High Court is located at Hyderabad and it would be housing the High Court of State of Telangana.

Insofar as State of Andhra Pradesh is concerned it has decided to create and construct new city known as Amaravati which is going to be the capital of the State and the new High Court of Andhra Pradesh would be located in that city.