Responding to the several requests of the Andhra Pradesh Government, the Government of India (GoI) made a key statement in the AP Court shifting matter.
During the Rajya Sabha proceedings on the 4th of February, the Union Minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad, responded in the A.P., HC shifting matter.
Mr. Shankar said, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Chief Minister of A.P., proposed to shift the State HC to Kurnool in February 2020. He further added, the management and expenditure of the HC would be the responsibility of the State Government and the administrative responsibilities of the High Court would be given to the Chief Justice.
The reply came after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) G.V.L. Narasimha Rao raised several questions.
Mr. Rao asked questions like whether there was a proposal to shift the principal seat to Rayalaseema?
Whether the Central Government and the Ministry of Law and Justice accepted the proposal and decided to recognise Kurnool as the legal capital of A.P.?
According to the opinion given by the Union Government, the State Government and the Chief Justice of the A.P., HC should come to a consensus on the move.
Mr. Shankar said there was no deadline for shifting of the court as the matter is currently before the State High Court and the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the opposition Telugu Desam Party in A.P., is against the decision as it is interconnected with the three capitals proposal.
In 2019 the Andhra Pradesh Government proposed to have three State capitals instead of one Amaravati.
The three proposed capitals were Visakhapatnam as the administrative capital, Kurnool as the judiciary capital and Amaravati as the legislative capital.
However, the attempt to do so was put on hold with the filing of several petitions by people and oppositions in courts.
The A.P., High Court with its principal seat in Amaravati had been established under the A.P. Reorganisation Act, 2014, and it started functioning on January 1, 2019.
