VIJAYAWADA: The AP High Court on Wednesday directed the State government not to process the applications received for regularisation of unauthorised and illegal constructions in the state until further orders are issued.
The division bench comprising Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice Challa Gunaranjan instructed the government to file a detailed counter affidavit explaining the entire process of regularisation.
Also, notices were issued to Chief Secretaries of the General Administration, Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD), Panchayat Raj departments and the Director of Town and Country Planning (TTCP).
The government had earlier amended the Municipal Act to facilitate the regularisation of unauthorised and illegal constructions across the state. Subsequently, it issued GO No. 225 in November last year outlining the regularisation scheme.
Challenging the amendment and the corresponding government order, Ch Harikrishna from Prakasam district filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in HC seeking cancellation.
During the hearing on Wednesday, petitioner’s counsel Vivekananda Virupaksha argued that the government order on regularisation was contrary to Supreme Court judgments.
He contended that the erstwhile combined High Court had earlier disapproved of similar regularisation measures and had stayed the implementation of such a scheme. He further submitted that the government had issued the order unilaterally without proper legal basis.
After hearing the arguments, the bench directed the State not to process any applications for regularisation until further orders and posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks.