SC to take up Amaravati capital petitions on Feb. 23; AP calls for expeditious hearing

NEW DELHI: The YS Jaganmohan Reddy Government in Andhra Pradesh on Monday reiterated its request to the Supreme Court to expedite the hearing in the ‘Amaravati as capital’ case. A division bench of the apex court announced that the hearing would be taken up on February 23.

A special mention was made before the division bench headed by Justice K M Joseph by Andhra Pradesh Government counsel Niranjan Reddy seeking expeditious hearing of the petitions in connection with the Amaravati capital dispute.

Meanwhile, the counsel for the Amaravati farmers on Monday informed the bench that the Supreme Court notices in connection with the case were received by his clients on January 27. As they sought two weeks’ time to file their counter affidavit, the Supreme Court Division Bench, consisting of Justice KM Joseph and Justice Nagaratna, announced that the matter would be taken up for hearing on February 23.

The State Government has been trying hard to ensure that the hearing was expedited in an effort to obtain a stay on the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s earlier order on Amaravati Capital issue. The YSRCP Government of YS Jaganmohan Reddy, looking to decentralise the administration with the creation of three capitals, was in the past jolted by the High Court order which ruled against its right to legislate a new act governing the establishment of the state capital.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy, who has already made his intentions clear on making Visakhapatnam the administrative capital, is eager to shift the administrative base to the port city as soon as there is a favourable verdict from the Supreme Court. At a recent curtain-raiser event in Delhi for the upcoming AP Global Investors Summit in Visakhapatnam, YS Jagan caused flutters by announcing that he too would be shifting to the state’s new capital Visakhapatnam very soon. He beckoned the diplomats of various countries to visit the vibrant port city during the summit in the first week of March and invest liberally in the state.

The Chief Minister’s statement kicked up a row with several political parties and the Amaravati farmers, opposed to the decentralisation idea, questioning YS Jagan as to how he could make such a statement when the matter was sub-judice in the Supreme Court. The counsels for the Amaravati farmers are also reportedly toying with the idea of petitioning the Supreme Court on February 23 against the Chief Minister’s statement.