R5 Zone: Jolt to Amaravati farmers, SC refuses to stay AP HC's interim order

NEW DELHI: In a jolt to the Amaravati capital region farmers, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to give interim directions staying the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s interim orders on the R5 Zone, pertaining to the distribution of house sites to the weaker sections. Hearing petitions filed by the Amaravati farmers, a division bench of the apex court decided to transfer the R5 zone petitions to the bench that is hearing the petition on the Amaravati capital issue.

The Amaravati farmers moved the apex court with special leave petitions (SLPs) challenging the Andhra Pradesh High Court interim directions which paved the way for the distribution of capital region lands to non-locals and low income groups by the State Government.

Accordingly, the Supreme Court division bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Rajesh Bindal directed the registry to list both the petitions before the bench headed by Justice K M Joseph for hearing on or before Friday. The division bench felt that it would not be appropriate for it to take up a related petition when another bench was looking into the petition filed over Amaravati capital issue. Stating that it was not aware of the reason why the petitions (R5 Zone) were referred to it, the bench was of the opinion that it be heard by the same bench hearing the Amaravati capital petition.

Senior Supreme Court counsel Harish Salve, Mukul Rohatgi, Shyam Divan and Devdutt Kamath presented the arguments before the Supreme Court bench on behalf of the Amaravati farmers. When Harish Salve urged the bench to grant a stay on Andhra Pradesh High Court verdict until the next hearing, it was strongly opposed by the counsel for the Andhra Pradesh Government. Senior counsel Niranjan Reddy, standing on behalf of the State government, sought to remind the apex court bench that, because of the pendency of the Amaravati capital petition, the high court had only given interim directions on the R5 Zone issue.

A division bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court headed by Chief Justice Prashanth Kumar Mishra has recently rejected the plea of the Amaravati farmers to annul the State Government order for the distribution of house sites within the capital region for non-locals and low income groups. Challenging the High Court decision, the farmers approached the Supreme Court with special leave petitions (SLPs), seeking a stay on the high court’s interim orders and dismissal of the relevant GO issued by the State government.