Andhra Pradesh High Court to begin work from Ugadi

The division of the Joint High Court of the Telugu states will finally happen with the Andhra Pradesh High Court commencing to function from the Justice City in Nelapadu, Amaravti on the occasion of Ugadi on April 7 next year.

President Ram Nath Kovind has ratified the "appointed day" of the Andhra Pradesh High Court as April 7 on Wednesday.

A separate high court for Telangana has been a major demand of the legal community of Telangana since the day the state was bifurcated. However, the high court called the High Court of Judicature in Hyderabad, functioned as the state high court for both the states.

Blaming AP Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu for interfering into Telangana affairs, the Telangana government has on several occasions offered to provide a separate building in the IIIT complex near Gachibowli to the AP government.

However, the court did not agree to the idea, saying that two high courts should not function in the same geographical area, in such proximity.

The Andhra Pradesh government, which is functioning from an interim government complex waiting for the completion of the main Assembly and a five-tower secretariat and a CMO, is also planning to build a new high court complex.

Meanwhile, the government has started building the Amaravati district court complex. Recently, the Chief Justice of the combined court visited the interim complex and expressed happiness over the pace of work.

“Construction work will be over by the end of this month, and the shifting (of court) will start immediately after that,” said state Urban Development Minister P Narayana. He said that L&T, the company which has been entrusted with the work, is using the latest construction technology to meet the deadline. Slabs, pillars and beams of the buildings are being constructed in precast technology.

The current high court building complex is located near Nelapadu and Rayapudi villages in Thullur Mandal in Guntur district. The new complex will have six blocks with two stories each. All the works are under progress and will be completed soon, sources said.