Lawyers boycott work at Vizag, demand Andhra HC to be shifted from Amaravati

With the demand for the Andhra Pradesh High Court to be established in Visakhapatnam growing, a large number of lawyers across the district boycotted their work on Tuesday, to increase pressure on the state government. The strike was called by the Visakhapatnam Bar Association (VBA), following which lawyers and advocates boycotted all courts and tribunals for a second consecutive day. Lawyers from the other districts of coastal Andhra, including Srikakulam and Vizianagaram, have also been staging protests in support of their legal fraternity in Visakhapatnam.  A general body meeting is also expected to be held on October 25 to pass a unanimous resolution on the issue and take it up with the state government and the Centre. The lawyers are also seeking to meet Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to establish a separate National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Visakhapatnam. “We will go ahead with our agitation peacefully. With the help of elected representatives and leaders of all opposition parties, we expect that the government will respond positively to our genuine demand,” VBA president Gorusu Maheswara Reddy told The Hindu. Last month, members of the Kurnool District Bar Association began a relay hunger strike, demanding that the Andhra Pradesh High Court be shifted from its present premises in the state's capital of Amaravati, to Kurnool in the Rayalaseema region. The lawyers argued on the need for decentralisation of institutions in the state, in order to ensure balanced development to all parts of Andhra Pradesh. In August, as the YSRCP government made it clear that it had no grand plans for the capital of Amaravati, the same group of lawyers shot off a letter to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. Read: 'Shift HC from Amaravati to Kurnool': District bar association begins hunger strike