A Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court led by Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and comprising Justices M. Satyanarayana Murthy and D.V.S.S. Somayajulu directed the State to file a counter and status report on the compliance with that portion of its order dated March 3, which required the provision of basic amenities — roads, drinking water, drainage and electricity — in Amaravati within one month, by July 12.
While hearing a batch of petitions related to Amaravati, on Thursday, the court took note of the farmers’ argument that the State did nothing in pursuance of the judgment on proposed three capitals and ordered that the government should submit a status report, against the backdrop of its plea for extension of time filed on April 1, 2022.
When the petitioners argued that there were some statements by Ministers which made a mockery of the judgment, Chief Justice Mishra said the verdict could be critically analyzed by any party and such an analysis could not be a disparagement by itself.
It may be recalled that the Hight Court had declared that the State Legislature has no competence to enact any law or pass a resolution to change the capital or bifurcating or trifurcating it and directed the State to construct and develop Amaravati capital city and region as per the CRDA Act, 2014 and Land Pooling Rules of 2015 within six months, but the government pleaded that it be given five years for completing the project by citing the paucity of time and financial constraints.
