Acting Chief Justice, judges of Andhra Pradesh HC take oath

Justice Chagari Praveen Kumar was sworn in as the Acting Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court here on Tuesday.

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan administered the oath of office to Justice Praveen Kumar and 14 other judges of the High Court at a ceremony held at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Stadium.

The ceremony was attended by Supreme Court judge Justice N.V. Ramana, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, lawyers and senior officials.

Before reaching Vijayawada, the Governor administered oath to Justice T. Bhaskaran Nair Radhakrishnan as the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court at a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad.

Justice Radhakrishnan later administered oath to 10 judges of Telangana High Court.

Justice Praveen Kumar, the senior most among judges allotted to Andhra Pradesh, will be presiding over the affairs of judiciary in his native state.

Hailing from Anantapur district, Justice Praveen Kumar is son of senior counsel C. Padmanabha Reddy. In 2012, he became a judge of the then Andhra Pradesh High Court.

Four-and-half years after bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, separate high courts of the two Telugu states became functional on Tuesday.

President Ram Nath Kovind on December 26 had issued a notification bifurcating High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad, which had been serving as the common high court of the two states since June 2014.

While the existing building of the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad became Telangana High Court, a permanent building for Andhra Pradesh High Court is being constructed at Amaravati, the upcoming state capital of Andhra Pradesh.

From Wednesday, Andhra Pradesh High Court will start working at a building, which earlier housed Chief Minister's Camp Office, as a temporary measure. Later in January, it will be shifted to City Court Complex.

With Tuesday's historic development, High Court has returned to Andhra after 62 years.

Andhra High Court was first established in Guntur in 1953 when a separate state for Telugu speaking people was carved out of Madras State with its capital in Kurnool.

After reorganisation of states in 1956, Andhra State was merged with then Hyderabad State to form Andhra Pradesh and subsequently the High Court was shifted to Hyderabad.

--IANS

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