Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is likely to meet chief justice, Prashant Kumar Mishra, in September this year. If sources in the chief minister’s office are to be believed, the chief minister wants to have a fresh dialogue with the chief justice on shifting of the high court from Amaravati to Kurnool.
The Central government had made it clear during the current monsoon session of the Parliament that shifting of the high court from Amaravati to Kurnool has to be decided together by the chief minister and the chief justice.
Union Minister of Law and Justice, Kiren Rijiju, had categorically said in both the Houses of Parliament that the issue has to be decided in the state and a consensus report from the government and the high court has to be sent to the Central government for further action.
He said that the administrative work of the high court is the responsibility of the chief justice, while the expenditure is to be borne by the state government. Hence, he wanted the high court and the state government to decide together and send a clear proposal if the high court has to be shifted to Kurnool from Amaravati.
Though Jagan Mohan Reddy has considerable weightage with the BJP leadership at the Centre, he is worried about the adverse response from the Supreme Court, with Justice N V Ramana, at the helm of affairs. Justice Ramana, even after becoming the chief justice, did not mince words about his association with the TDP. He had revealed his association with the TDP recently at Ranchi in Jharkhand state, when he delivered a Justice Satya Brata Sinha memorial lecture on July 23.
Given these issues, chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is waiting for Justice Ramana to retire on August 26. Sources say that Jagan Mohan Reddy would make his next move on his three capitals plan only in September and not before that.
