The Andhra Pradesh government on Monday informed the High Court through an affidavit that various bona fide steps had been taken for the development of Amaravati as the capital city in compliance with the judgment dated March 3, 2022, and on that ground, prayed for dismissal of the contempt cases filed by some aggrieved farmers.
Besides, the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) filed a status report on the implementation of the High Court order in the batch of writ petitions that challenged the proposed trifurcation of the capital to ensure decentralisation of administration.
In that report, the CRDA furnished a detailed account of the Land Pooling Scheme (LPS) and trunk infrastructure works in progress, mobilisation of funds for executing those works, and social and economic development activities undertaken in the last four-and- a-half months.
Taking a note of it during a hearing of the contempt petitions on Tuesday, a Division Bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, Justice D.V.S.S. Somayajulu and Justice C. Manavendranath Roy posted the matters to August 23, with a direction to the petitioners to complete their pleadings by then.
Special Chief Secretary Y. Srilakshmi stated that the government had appealed to the High Court through two affidavits filed in April and June to extend time for implementing its directions in view of the enormity of the task of developing infrastructure in Amaravati and the financial constraints being faced by it.
She said that the State and the CRDA took measures for the development of trunk infrastructure in the capital city and achieved some progress between March 3 and June 21.
The further progress had been achieved since then with regard to registration of returnable plots, resumption of LPS and trunk infrastructure works, registration of lands already allotted to various entities and the commencement of their activities.
“A decision has been taken to auction the lands vested with the State government and CRDA for developing the capital city to raise funds for the above works. A committee has also been set up to fix the upset price for those lands and it is in the process of finalisation. The works are going on continuously and the milestones are monitored periodically,” Ms. Srilakshmi apprised the court.
Three capitals
It may be noted that the Rajadhani Rythu Parirakshana Samithi and several farmers challenged the Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions and CRDA Repeal Acts of 2020 which were intended to develop Amaravati, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool as the legislative, executive and judicial capitals respectively.
These Acts were subsequently repealed only to facilitate a comprehensive legislation that would ‘dispel the wrong notions of the land-givers in Amaravati’ and clarify the government’s position on the legalities raised by the petitioners in the High Court, which held that the State had no legislative competence to change, bifurcate or even trifurcate the capital.
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy reiterated his commitment to three capitals at the party’s just-concluded plenary even as the proposal continues to be vehemently opposed by farmers as well as all other political parties.
