Advocates on Friday took out a rally from Ambedkar statue and staged a dharna before the Collectorate here demanding establishment of the High Court at Kurnool in Rayalaseema region, in accordance with the Shribagh Pact.
Advocates, who rallied under the aegis of A.P. SC/ST Lawyers Forum, also demanded fulfilment of the pre-poll promises made in the Telugu Desam Party manifesto in 2014.
Forum president Y. Jayaraju said
High Court should be established in Kurnool to honour the Elders‘ Agreement. Centralisation of power and development in the erstwhile capital at Hyderabad led to a separatist movement resulting in bifurcation of the State, he added.
It would be a historical mistake to establish the capital and the high court in coastal Andhra and render injustice to Rayalaseema, he said. The capital and high court was at different places in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh, he added. Similarly the high court and HC bench functioned from different cities in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and why not in Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Jayaraju asked.
Setting up the high court in Rayalaseema would lead to decentralisation of power, he said.
Forum general secretary N. John Babu, vice-president M. Subbaiah and Kurnool city unit president Ravikanth Prasad demanded Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to fulfil his promises to enhance stipend of SC/ST advocates from ₹ 1,000 to ₹ 3,000, increase in death benefits to ₹ 6 lakh, establish a judicial academy to train advocates, allot house sites and sanction bank loans to advocates.
Forum working president R. Ananda Rao, secretary M. Ravi Raju, treasurer N. Nagappa, women advocates Sumana Rani and Thikkamma and others took part.
