The legal battle between Amaravathi farmers and the ruling YSR Congress Party government has reached the doorsteps of Supreme court, after the AP High court on April 4, refused to issue stay order on government’s decision of alloting house sites to the poor in Amaravathi lands.
Aggrieved by the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s refusal to issue interim orders against the allotment of house sites to the poor – Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the proposed R5 zone in Amaravati, U.Sivaiah, a farmer belonging to Kuragallu village in Mangalagiri mandal of Guntur district, filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court on April 6 (Thursday) praying for a stay on G.O.Ms.No.45, dated March 31, 2023.
After taking cognisance of the SLP, Chief Justice of India D.Y.Chandrachud heard the petition in New Delhi on Thursday and posted the matter for further hearing on April 14.Senior counsel Dama Seshadri Naidu is appearing on behalf of the petitioner.
In his petition, Mr.Sivaiah said he had urgently moved the High Court challenging the legality of the impugned G.O.on the ground that the State was attempting to create a fait accompli that would permanently alter the character of the land given up by him voluntarily under the Land Pooling Scheme (LPS) for the purpose of construction of the capital city of Amaravati.
He insisted that implementation of the G.O.would create an irreversible situation, notwithstanding the fact that a full Bench of the High Court had unequivocally held that the State was bound to implement the Amaravati capital city master plan (to which certain changes were made unilaterally) and the LPS on the terms promised to the erstwhile landowners.
The said G.O.was in violation of the A.P.Capital Region Development Authority (AP-CRDA) Act, 2014, and A.P.Capital City Land Pooling Scheme (Formulation and Implementation) Rules, 2015.
But, the High Court did not grant interim relief and posted the matter for further hearing to April 19, which risked his petition and also the High Court full Bench’s Amaravati judgment dated March 3, 2022, becoming infructuous.
The state government issued GO-45 on March 31 to set up layouts spread over 1,134.58 acres of land in Amaravati for giving house sites to the poor.The state also issued orders for development of the said land.
