Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu made a grand announcement that his government would set up a separate permanent high court bench at Kurnool and also initiated the process for the same.
But on Wednesday, the state high court made it clear that there was no necessity for the high court to abide by the request of the state government for setting up of a separate HC Bench in Kurnool.
Hearing the arguments on a public interest litigation petition filed by lawyers Tandava Yogesh and Turaga Sai Surya challenging the government’s decision, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice Cheemalapati Ravi, asserted that the judiciary acts on its own.
The bench critical remarks against the State government saying that the government was not the final authority in deciding the setting up of the bench at Kurnool.
The Chief Justice said a committee was formed to examine the possibility for setting up the Bench in Kurnool, and told the petitioners to wait until it submitted its report.
“A decision on setting up the Bench in Kurnool will be taken with due consideration of all the judges in full court meeting, and objections on the committee report can be challenged further,” it said.
Further, the court posted the matter to May.
It may be recalled that the Chief Secretary, and the Principal Secretary (Law) wrote letters to the High Court in last November on setting up of the Bench, and Law Minister NMD Farooq too announced that the HC committee would be visiting Kurnool to find a suitable place for it.
The court found fault with the petitioners for filing a PIL when the committee is yet to submit its report on the issue.
