Centre Responds To AP High Court Relocation To Kurnool In Parliament

In what can be seen as a shot in the arm for Andhra Pradesh, the Centre responded over the three capitals plan of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in the Parliament today.

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad made a statement in Parliament on the issue of shifting the state high court to Kurnool. Replying to a question by BJP MP GVL Narasimha Rao on whether the High Court was being shifted from Amravati to Kurnool, the Minister recalled that the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister had proposed to shift the High Court main bench to Kurnool in February last year. He said that the state government would take a decision on the move after consultations with the high court.

The Minister said that the cost of managing the High Court was the responsibility of the state government and the administrative responsibilities of the High Court would be vested in the Chief Justice.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has made it clear that the State government and the High Court should come to a consensus on the relocation of the High Court. There is also no time frame for the relocation of the Court, he said.

 It may be recollected that a separate bill, the "Decentralised Governance and Inclusive Development Bill", was also passed in the AP state assembly last year that mentioned three capitals -- an executive capital at Vizag, a legislative capital at Amaravati and a judicial capital at Kurnool -- covering the three geographical regions of the state.