VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday vacated its interim stay ordered on the construction of Bhogapuram Greenfield International Airport and dismissed petitions filed by a group of 32 farmers from Kancheru village in Bhogapuram mandal of Vizinagaram district.
In its 74-page verdict, a division bench, comprising Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice DVSS Somayajulu, pointed out that there are no issues in the case that need Court intervention.
The State Government had issued notification for acquiring 2,700 acres for construction of the airport. Of the total, 2,200 acres was to be used for the airport and 500 acres for other purposes. Of the 2,200 acres earmarked for the airport, the government could not acquire 37.15 acres. As many as 1,959 landowners were to be affected, so the government paid Rs 678 crore as compensation.
A total of 1,937 agreed to the compensation offered by the government, while others filed several petitions, but agreed to the compensation. “Only a small parcel of land would be left out, which cannot be ignored. In the larger interest of the public, it is better to give permission for the airport construction,” the Court observed. The division bench agreed with Advocate General S Sriram that notification issued for the acquisition of land was legal.
In 2015, a group of farmers had approached the court challenging the notification issued for acquiring land for the airport. Subsequently, the HC had issued an interim stay. Recently, a division bench headed by Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra reserved the judgement in the case.
‘PREZ GAVE ASSENT TO REVISED ACT’
Issuing the verdict, the HC dismissed the petitioners’ arguments that amendments made to the relevant Act to acquire land for the airport were illegal and not constitutional. It pointed out that the President had given the assent to amendments after careful consideration