The Andhra Pradesh state assembly on Thursday passed a resolution to establish a high court at Kurnool, which is a long-pending demand of the people of Rayalaseema region.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu moved the resolution in the assembly which was unanimously adopted by the members through voice vote. The copy of the resolution will be sent to the High Court and the Central government for approval, he said.

“Establishment of a high court in Kurnool was one of the promises made by the Telugu Desam Party-led National Democratic Alliance during the last elections. The state cabinet approved the decision in its meeting on Wednesday,” he said.

He said the offices of Lok Ayuktha and National Human Rights Commission would remain in Kurnool and would not be shifted to Amaravati as claimed by the opposition YSR Congress party, which has misled people in error in the name of three capitals.

“The previous government created uncertainty in the state in the name of three capitals with judicial capital at Kurnool. But we convinced the people that Amaravati would remain the state capital and Kurnool would get a full-fledged high court,” he said.

People familiar with the matter said the Naidu government had already written to the state High Court seeking consent for the establishment of a high court in Kurnool.

State Legal Secretary V Sunitha wrote a letter to the High Court Registrar to place the proposal before the full High Court, which is the competent authority to decide the composition of the High Court .

The decision could be forwarded to the Union law ministry for further action.

In her letter, the law secretary said the Kurnool High Court would provide great relief to the people of Rayalaseema, which has eight districts, as they face difficulty in traveling all the way to Amaravati to attend their trials. “Though there is no direct train between Kurnool and Vijayawada and there is only one train from YSR Kadapa district, it is causing a lot of inconvenience to people,” she declared.

She also sought details of the number of cases pending in the State High Court relating to the Rayalaseema region.

If the region accounts for more than a third of the total cases handled by the High Court, the request for a separate jurisdiction is justified, she said.

Sunitha pointed out that seven states in the country already had separate high courts in other parts of the states. Maharashtra has the main seat of the High Court at Mumbai and other benches at Nagpur, Aurangabad and Panaji.

Similarly, Uttar Pradesh has a main bench in Allahabad and another bench in Lucknow; Madhya Pradesh has a main bench in Jabalpur and benches in Indore and Gwalior.

Rajasthan has a main bank in Jodhpur and a bank in Jaipur; Karnataka has a main bench in Bengaluru and benches in Dharwad and Kalaburagi; Tamil Nadu has a main bench in Chennai and a bench in Maduri and Assam has a main bench in Guwahati, while it has separate benches in Aizawl, Kohima and Itanagar.

Jharkhand has a main bench in Ranchi and another bench is being installed in Dumka.