SC Orders Separate HCs For Telangana And Andhra Pradesh Before December 15; Permanent Structure Likely By 2019

The Supreme Court has directed the Central government to issue notices for the bifurcation of the current common High court in Hyderabad. The directive has been issued based on the progress of the construction of the new high court building at Amaravati.

Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan of the apex court passed this special order in a special leave petition filed by the Centre challenging the 2015 judgment of the High Court division bench headed by then Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta which ruled that the high court for AP, whether temporary or permanent, should be set up only on the territory of AP.

The bench did not agree with the opinion of senior counsel for AP, Fali Nariman, who compared Punjab and Haryana High Court with the Hyderabad High Court. The Bench reminded him that the AP Reorganisation Act clearly stated that there shall be separate high courts for both AP and Telangana.

Senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Telangana state, said that the Andhra government had been delaying the bifurcation of the existing high court.

On the other hand, the AP government says the interim high court building would be ready by 15 December and court staff shifted by April. Accommodation for HC judges and staff as well as the permanent HC at Justice City in Amaravati would be ready by August 2019.

Responding to the above submissions, the bench said: “We want it to be bifurcated at the earliest”, reported The New indian Express.