With their counterparts in Telangana reviving the demand for speedy bifurcation of High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad, advocates of Andhra Pradesh have decided to press for the same to put an end to the discontent that is brewing on both sides.
Presidents and secretaries of important bar associations from the 13 districts have resolved to meet in Visakhapatnam on Feb 21 to chart their future course of action. Telangana advocates have submitted a memorandum to the High Court Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta on Feb. 4 demanding immediate bifurcation of the High Court and their protests had evoked instant reaction from the legal fraternity in Andhra Pradesh.
Both are insisting that the High Court should be bifurcated without further delay as enough time has passed after Telangana became a reality on June 2, 2014.
“Since the continuation of the existing High Court as a common entity for both states is causing misgivings and disputes among the legal fraternity, it should be bifurcated at the earliest. Besides, the States can have their own Bar Councils only after the High Court is divided”, Bezawada Bar Association President S. Durga Srinivasa Rao told The Hindu .
Separate High Court is to be constituted for Andhra Pradesh in accordance with Article 214 of the Constitution and Sec. 30 of Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014.
“There is an indication by a Supreme Court judge that the Principal Seat of HC of A.P will be located in the Capital region”, he said.
The undivided State had about 70,000 advocates and their number in A.P is slightly more than half of that figure. Their welfare is to be undertaken by the respective Bar Councils.
All India Lawyers’ Union A.P State Committee general secretary N. Srinivasa Rao said the HC has to be bifurcated in the least possible time and that the separate HC for A.P. should be located between Vijayawada and Guntur which had been a long-pending demand.
He pointed out that the HC was located in Guntur from July 1954 till the end of 1956 when the State Capital was in Kurnool.
Bar associations from 13 districts will meet in Vizag on Feb. 21 to chalk out action plan
