HC split in AP hands: Centre

It was once again made clear on Sunday that the Centre could not do much in the matter of bifurcation of the High Court.

Union minister of state for law and justice P.P. Chaudhary on Sunday there was little the Centre could do till the AP government completed the construction of the ‘Judicial City’ in its new capital Amaravati.

Mr Chaudhary was speaking at a meeting of advocates that was organised by BJP city president and MLC N. Ramachandra Rao here.

When Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya pointed out that there was resentment among lawyers over the delay in the division of High Court, Mr Chaudhary replied that the Centre could not step in as long as there was no review of the Justice Kalyan Sen Gupta bench decision that unless land is given, buildings are constructed in the new AP capital, the High Court cannot be divided and functions separately.

Referring to the judgement, Mr Chaudhary said, “at best we can bring pressure and pump more funds to the AP government to complete the Judicial City so that steps can be taken by the Centre for the bifurcation of High Court.”

He said that the Centre had provided enough funds to AP to take up work on the administrative capital. If AP so desired, more funds could allotted, he said.

Replying to an advocate, Mr Chaudhary said the appointment of six more judges to the High Court was in the pipeline. The Centre had the recommendations from the Supreme Court Chief Justice and these will be cleared.”