The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday ordered that the Amaravati Masterplan be implemented and all development activities be continued in the region in a blow to the YSRC government's plans to have three capitals, as per PTI report. Further, a three-member division bench of the High Court, headed by Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra ordered that the government honour the agreement signed with farmers, who parted with their lands for the development of the capital city Amaravati, and take up development activities.
The three capitals idea looks uncertain, though the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government has been claiming that it would not give up on it. The bench ordered that the government submit an affidavit in six months on the progress of the development works in Amaravati.
Additionally, the division bench, comprising justices M Satyanarayana Murthy and DVSS Somayajulu, delivered the judgment on a batch of petitions filed by the farmers opposing the Jagan Mohan Reddy government's plan to create three new capitals for the state.
In the original petitions, the farmers also opposed the scrapping of the Capital Region Development Authority Act and the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act. Andhra Pradesh government subsequently repealed the two controversial laws but said it would bring them in a new form. The High Court on Thursday said it would continue hearing into the various other related petitions in the matter. The Amaravati Parirakshana Samiti leaders welcomed the High Court judgment and said it was a victory of people and farmers.
(With inputs from agencies)
