Naidu in no hurry to give up high court to Telangana

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu has thrown a spanner in the works of the striking Telangana advocates. Much to their disappointment, he stated that the construction of a High Court at Amaravati will take time.

 

Not just that, he washed his hands off their demand for immediate bifurcation of the High Court by saying that it was not in his hands and it should be done by the Supreme Court.

 

The Telangana advocates and judicial officers have been striking since June 6 demanding that the ‘pro-Andhra’ division of judicial officers between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana be revoked.

 

This also comes at a time when the Telangana government is accusing Naidu of deliberately delaying the bifurcation of Hyderabad High Court into AP and Telangana High Courts.  Naidu made it clear that he had no money to construct a building for the High Court at the new capital Amaravati.

 

“Land is available for the construction of the High Court. We want Andhra Pradesh High Court to be an iconic building in the world-class capital,” Naidu said in Vijayawada upon his arrival from China yesterday and added that money was a constraint to take up the construction of such an iconic building.

 

Naidu dismissed the accusation by his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao and the JAC of Telangana advocates that he was in cahoots with the High Court Chief Justice and the Centre in delaying the bifurcation of the High Court.

 

"I am all for an amicable solution. We have left everything in Hyderabad and come to AP. So you may ask, why not leave the High Court as well, then? It is not that simple. We want justice to prevail. We want the AP Reorganization Act to be implemented in letter and in spirit. Further, the issue is not in the hands of the central government, but it is with the Supreme Court," Naidu said.

 

The Andhra Pradesh CM also said the construction of the High Court building would take some time. “The farmers have given land for the construction of Amaravati. Before we take up the task of building the High Court, a master plan for the city has to be prepared.  This will take time,” he said.

 

He was not enthusiastic about meeting Telangana chief minister KCR to resolve the contentious issue and stated that it wouldn’t serve the purpose.

 

For the delay in the construction of capital city Amaravati, Naidu put the blame on the Centre. “The Centre is not ready to extend an assistance of not more than ₹2500 core including the ₹1000 crore which has been released for the Vijayawada and Guntur.  An amount of ₹1500 crore has been given for Amaravati. Is it adequate?” he asked.

 

Upon assuming office as chief minister in 2014, Naidu urged the centre to provide ₹2 lakh crore for the construction of his world-class capital.