Point of Law :
proviso to Section 40(3) of the Act of 2014 does not require or speak of exercise of power by the Chief Justice on a case to case basis. The use of the words ‘....it appears to the Chief Justice of that High Court that they ought to be transferred to the High Court of Andhra Pradesh...’ demonstrates that it is open to the Chief Justice to exercise this power en bloc also, if he so chooses, and transfer all such cases covered by Section 40(3) of the Act of 2014 with one stroke of the pen.

SANJAY KUMAR, J.

1. On 28.01.2019, a Division Bench of this Court comprising two of us (Hon’ble The Chief Justice and ARR, J) passed the following order:

‘Learned Advocate General for the State of Andhra Pradesh requested that the Chief Justice may consider exercising discretion under Section 40(3) of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.

2. We are of the considered view that it would be appropriate that these matters are considered by a Full Bench having regard to the importance of the issues involved.

3. We also notice that a Division Bench of this Court in T.Madan Mohan Reddy and B.R. Meena (2015(2) ALD 554 (DB) had considered certain attendant issues. We have also seen the Judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in State of Uttaranchal v. Sehnaz Mirza (2008) 6 SCC 726) dealing with the situation that arose in Uttarakhand. Learned Advocate General for the State of Andhra Pradesh also points out the judgment of the Allahabad High Court in Peoples Union for Civil Liberties, Allahabad v. State of U.P (2000 SCC Online All 1007 : (2001) 42 ALR 191).

4. Post these matters before the Full Bench.

Office is directed to place these matters before the Chief Justice for taking appropriate orders in this regard.’

The above reference order was passed in Taken up W.P.(PIL) No.5 of 2019, W.A.Nos.790, 974, 1069, 1141, 1399, 1503, 1686, 1717, 1718, 1721 of 2018 and W.A.No.42 of 2019. Though no such order was passed in W.A.Nos.453 and 675 of 2008 & W.A.Nos.153 and 154 of 2015, all arising out of the same order, they were directed to be heard together and posted along with W.A.No.790 of 2018, in which a reference order was passed. Similarly, no reference order was passed in W.A.Nos.1349 and 1656 of 2018, but both these cases were also directed to be posted along with W.A.No.790 of 2018.

That is how all these matters were placed before this Full Bench.

History stands witness to the fact that the erstwhile combined State of Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated under the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 (for brevity, ‘the Act of 2014’), with effect from 02.06.2014. On the said day, the State of Telangana and the present State of Andhra Pradesh came into existence. However, in terms of Section 30 of the Act of 2014, the existing High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad was to be the common High Court for the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh till a separate High Court for the State of Andhra Pradesh was constituted under Article 214 of the Constitution of India read with Section 31 of the Act of 2014. This event came to pass when the President of India issued Notification dated 26.12.2018, in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 214 of the Constitution and Section 30(1)(a) and Section 31(1) & (2) of the Act of 2014, constituting a separate High Court for the State of Andhra Pradesh from 01.01.2019 with its principal seat at Amaravathi in the State of Andhra Pradesh. The Hyderabad High Court thereupon became the High Court for the State of Telangana.

While so, the President of the Andhra Pradesh High Court Advocates Association addressed letter dated 06.01.2019 to the Hon’ble The Chief Justice, High Court of Telangana, to instruct the Registry to identify all the cases where the subject matter of the lis is situated in the State of Andhra Pradesh or where the parties thereto are residents of Andhra Pradesh and to pass appropriate orders for transfer of all such cases to the High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Amaravathi, by exercising power under the proviso to Section 40(3) of the Act of 2014, in the interest of justice and for the convenience of the Advocates as well as the public in general.

Taken up W.P.(PIL) No.5 of 2019 was registered suo motu on the strength of this letter of the President of the Andhra Pradesh High Court Advocates Association.

In the light of the above developments, the issue for consideration before this Full Bench is as to the fate of these writ appeals and cases of like natu