VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday refused to intervene in the issue of GO 45 issued by the State government permitting the APCRDA Commissioner to transfer land to collectors of Guntur and NTR districts for the purpose of house sites to the poor.
Hearing the petition filed by Amaravati farmers challenging the GO 45, a division bench, comprising Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice M Ganga Rao, made it clear that the capital region does not belong to one person or one section, but everyone. It questioned the petitioners how could they say the poor should not live in the capital region and observed that allotment of house sites to the poor in the capital region by the government is part of the development process.
Stating that no one can say that house sites should not be allotted to certain people, the court pointed out that the land in the capital region now belongs to the APCRDA and not to those who gave it to the government. Further, as the case pertaining to the capital issue is in the Supreme Court, the High Court cannot intervene in the matter at this juncture.
The court said it could not intervene in the transfer of land (1,134 acres) in the capital region to the two district collectors by the APCRDA. It further observed that at this stage, no interim stay order can be given. Pointing out that the orders have only mentioned the transfer of land, it felt that petitioners challenging the land allotment for house sites are immature.
Observing that for every decision taken by the government, courts are being approached, it said some petitions related to the capital region are being filed in the High Court and some in the Supreme Court. The bench further said on GO 45, petitioners can also approach the Supreme Court and added that it cannot prevent the government from taking decisions as it is part of its responsibilities.
The court directed the municipal administration and urban development department and the APCRDA to file a counter with full details. Further hearing in the case was adjourned to April 19. The court said after examining the counter filed by the government, it will take a call on an interim stay.
Farmers of the capital region filed a petition in the High Court, challenging the State government’s order (GO No 45 issued on March 31) permitting the APCRDA Commissioner to transfer 1,134 acres in Amaravati capital region and sought a stay on it.
During their arguments, petitioners’ counsel said the government is trying to allot land for house sites in violation of the APCRDA master plan. They argued that the court had already given its orders not to use the land demarcated for the capital for any other purpose. They contended that the court orders were violated and the CRDA Act was amended for the creation of a new zone to facilitate allotment of house sites. Intervening, the court said allotment of house sites will be in accordance with the final verdict in the case.
However, the counsel objected to it. Citing the verdict of the three-member division bench of the High Court that no transfer of capital city lands or creation of rights for the third party can be done, they said the State government has approached the Supreme Court on the same. They further said the SC has only revealed its stand on three aspects of the AP High Court verdict regarding the capital city issue. The latest GO 45 is in clear violation of the High Court order, the counsel argued.
When senior advocate Muralidhar Rao said as per the newspaper reports, the Chief Minister had directed the officials to allot house sites in Amaravati to outsiders in the first week of May, the court took serious objection to the usage of the word outsiders. It made it clear that the capital does not just belong to those who gave land under the land pooling scheme, but everyone.