Come New Year and Andhra Pradesh will have a separate High Court as the Supreme Court has given the green signal for issuing the notification to this effect.

It will be the 25th high court in the country and will initially function from a temporary structure till the permanent building comes up in the ambitious Justice City complex in the State’s capital Amaravati.

Requirements met

Since the bifurcation of the State on June 2, 2014, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have had a common High Court in Hyderabad, the latter’s capital city.

A bench of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said that since all the requirements have been fulfilled, there is no embargo for the competent authority to issue a notification bifurcating the courts into the High Court of Telangana and High Court of Andhra Pradesh respectively.

“We expect such a notification to be issued by January 1, 2019, so that the two High Courts start functioning separately and the High Court of Andhra Pradesh also starts functioning in the new building at the earliest,” the bench said.

The court noted the submission of the State that the building, where the Andhra Pradesh High Court would be temporarily shifted would be ready by December 15.

“It is also clear that the judges of the High Court, who would become judges of High Court of Andhra Pradesh, are satisfied with the facilities in the said building inasmuch as Full Court of the High Court has approved the proposal after Inspection Committee of Judges submitted a report in this behalf,” the bench said after perusing the affidavit of Andhra Pradesh.

Villas to be hired

Senior advocate Fali S Nariman, appearing for Andhra Pradesh, said the government would be hiring villas to take care of the residential needs of the judges at Amaravati.

“We may place on record that in Amaravati a very big complex known as Justice City is under construction where the High Court and subordinate courts and even some tribunals would be accommodated and there is a provision for construction of residential complex for the judges of the High Court and judicial officers of subordinate courts,” the bench said.

It said that hiring villas for residences of judges is an ad hoc arrangement till the Justice City gets completely constructed.