VIJAYAWADA: The AP High Court on Friday rejected the appeal made by the farmers from Amaravati to issue interim orders to disclose the recommendations of the GN Rao Committee and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) with regard to the capital city. Dealing with a petition filed by a group of farmers from Amaravati in the High Court seeking an extension of the time to submit their objections on the capital issues to CRDA Commissioner and disclose the recommendations of the two committees, the Bench comprising Justice Akula Venkata Sesha Sai and Justice Mallavolu Satyanarayanamurthy made it clear that it cannot issue interim orders to disclose recommendations of the committee.
However, the Bench directed the CRDA Commissioner to receive petitions and objections on the capital issue until 2:30 pm on January 20. Appearing for the petitioners, senior advocate Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar and Supreme Court advocate Satish Parasaran said as there were three continuous holidays, farmers in a large number could not avail the opportunity.
Further, they argued that improper notification seeking objections from the farmers was sought and only a media announcement was made. They argued that on what issue objections could be raised was not made clear. It was also brought to the notice of the court that the CRDA server stopped working on the last day for submission of the objections. Advocate General S Sriram said though it was a holiday, the CRDA office was working. He said opening another website instead of the CRDA website, the petitions could not be submitted. He said on Thursday a total of 1,049 petitions were submitted through e-mail, 18,761 through website and 2,012 submitted by hand. On Friday, a total of 600 petitions were filed. When the court asked if the government intends to extend the deadline or not, the AG said it will be extended till January 20.