VIJAYAWADA: Farmers of the capital region filed a petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court, challenging the State government’s orders (GO No.45) permitting APCRDA commissioner to transfer 1,134 acres in Amaravati Capital Region and seeking a stay on it.
The petition came in the form of lunch motion before Justice C Manavendranath Roy. Advocate General S Sriram informed him that there are other petitions on the same subject being heard by a three-member division bench headed by Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra.
The additional advocate general Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy dealing with those cases on behalf of the State Government through his office correspondence urged the Court to club the latest petition with other pending petitions.
Taking into consideration the arguments of the Advocate General and a memorandum from the additional advocate general, the judge, too, opined that it would be better for the three-member division bench to hear the petition. However, petitioners’ counsel urged the court to hear the petition given its urgent nature. Considering their request, Justice Manavendranath Roy directed the registry to place the file before the Chief Justice.
When the file was brought before him, the Chief Justice directed the registry to list if for hearing before a two-member division bench comprising himself and Justice M Ganga Rao on Tuesday.
Petitioners’ counsel argued the government is trying to allocate lands for house sites in violation of the APCRDA master plan. They said court orders were violated and CRDA Act was amended for the creation of a new zone to facilitate the allocation of house sites.