Four days from now, a new page in the history of the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh will be scripted with two separate High Courts for them coming into existence on the new-year day.
While the HC for AP formally starts functioning on Tuesday from the premises of the Chief Minister's Camp Office near PWD ground in Vijayawada city, the HC for Telangana would start from Hyderabad HC building here on the bank of the Musi abutting Old City. With this, the present Hyderabad HC for Telangana and the State of AP ceases to exit and slips into the annals of history.
The HC for AP at CM’s camp office in Vijayawada is temporary. After a few days, it is likely to be shifted to the ‘Justice City’ in Amaravati where already nine court halls were constructed. “Three more halls would be completed soon,” AP Advocate General Dammalapati Srinivas said, speaking to scribes here on Wednesday.
Inaugural ceremony
The AP government was planning a formal inaugural ceremony of the new HC for AP at Justice City. It contemplated inviting the Chief Justice of India to inaugurate the HC. This is likely to happen during 12-day Sankranti vacation for the HC from January 7 or even before that. The vacations could be extended, facilitating creation of infrastructure, shifting of files and completion of other logistical support systems.
The President had already allotted 16 and 10 judges of Hyderabad HC to the newly constituted HCs of AP and Telangana respectively. Another notification was issued on Thursday appointing the senior-most judge of the AP HC, C. Praveen Kumar, as its Acting Chief Justice and Hyderabad HC CJ Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan as CJ for Telangana HC.
Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice V. Ramasubramanian of the Hyderabad HC would continue to work for the new HC of Telangana. The subordinate judicial officers were also divided between the two HCs.
Earlier in the day, a section of lawyers hailing from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions in Hyderabad HC boycotted work. When some of them told the Chief Justice in the first court that they were boycotting the work protesting against sudden shifting of HC to AP, he made it clear that he could not join them.
The division bench comprising CJ and Justice S.V. Bhatt adjourned the first court after giving fresh dates for matters listed for the day. The second and third division benches also did so. While many other judges rose early, adjourning their respective courts, Justice Naveen Rao continued the court even after lunch break.
