The Central government had made it clear that the decision to shift the high court from Amaravati to Kurnool is in the hands of the state government and the high court.

This would mean that chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and chief justice, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra would have to sit together and take a decision.

This was made clear by Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju on Friday in Lok Sabha in reply to the question raised by YSR Congress MPs, Kotagiri Sridhar and Chintha Anuradha.

The Central minister said that Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy had written a letter to the Central government in February 2020 requesting the government to shift the principal seat of AP high court from Amaravati to Kurnool.

As the decision is to be taken by the State government and the State high court, the Minister said that the Central government did not take any step.

He further said that the state government is responsible for the expenditure of the high court. Similarly, the chief justice is responsible for the day to day administration of the high court.

Hence, he said both the State government and the high court have to take a combined decision on shifting the principal seat of high court from Amaravati to Kurnool.

Sources in the chief minister’s office say that Jagan Mohan Reddy would meet the AP high court chief justice shortly and take his consent to shift the high court to Kurnool.

The chief minister is firm on having a judicial capital in Kurnool, legislative capital in Amaravati and administrative capital in Visakhapatnam.

Sources further indicate that the chief minister is planning to shift his camp office to Visakhapatnam after Dasara in October. All the decisions relating to the three capitals are also to be taken after Dasara, sources said.