VIJAYAWADA: Stating that it would not come in the way of the government’s development activities, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday said it won’t issue orders to stop the construction of Millenium Towers B or come in the way of the government’s proposal to shift its offices.

A bench of Chief Justice JK Maheswari, Justice AV Seshasai and Justice M Satyanarayana Murthy on Tuesday heard a batch of PILs filed against the bills for decentralisation and repealing the AP CRDA Act, relocation of the Vigilance Commission office and the Commission of Enquiries to Kurnool, and allocation of Rs 19.73 crore for the construction of Millenium Towers B in Visakhapatnam.

Arguing on behalf of one of the petitioners, counsel U Muralidhar Rao said the government did not give any advance notice to the farmers who gave their land for construction of the capital, and this goes against the principles of natural justice. The government took a unilateral decision to shift the capital, he argued.

Muralidhar Rao added that the State Cabinet ministers are making statements that show the judiciary in poor light. The government, he further said, went ahead with relocation of the offices of the Vigilance Commission and Commissioner of Enquiries and also released funds to construct of Millenium Towers B even as the court is hearing petitions against the bills on decentralisation and repealing the AP CRDA Act. The counsel sought for the court to immediately stay the implementation of the two Government Orders (GOs) in view of this.

The bench considered the petitioner’s argument and said it would serve notices to all the respondents. Intervening at this juncture, Advocate General S Sriram attempted to explain the GOs (GO 13 issued for relocation of the offices to Kurnool and GO 8 allocating funds for Millenium Towers B) but the court asked the AG to submit his arguments as an affidavit.

When Muralidhar Rao once again appealed to the court to stay the two GOs, the court made it clear that it would not issue any stay on the implementation of the GOs. “The State government has the right to develop the State, and courts cannot come in the way of this,’’ the High Court said and maintained that the bills are still pending.The counsel of another petitioner said relocation of offices is against the CRDA Master Plan.

Intervening at this juncture, the Court asked which Act prevents the relocation of the offices. To this, the counsel failed to give a proper answer.

Meanwhile, AG S Sriram said the proposal to relocate the offices of Vigilance Commission and Commissioner of Enquiries was not a sudden decision and it was proposed to shift some offices from the Interim Secretariat in last September itself. The AG said that it had become a difficult task to run the offices from their present location due to space constraints.

He said that the Vigilance Commission, on par with AP Public Service Commission, will function independently. He maintained that the present office is not at all conducive for the office to function. The court later posted the matter to Wednesday for further hearing.

HC issues notice  to State govt
The High Court bench of Chief Justice JK Maheswari and Justice N Jayasurya on Tuesday issued notices to the state government and Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi in the PIL filed against the government engaging the services of the senior counsel to argue the cases related to the Amaravati land cases for a fee of Rs five crore. A petition was filed against engaging the services of Mukul Rohatgi earlier and after serving notices

Govt ordered to take back land
The High Court on Tuesday asked the government to take back the 1605 acres of land, which was taken away from the Trishul Cements after the mining lease to it was cancelled following violation of
agreement, and complete the complete the process of reclaiming the land within two weeks.
The lands in question are in Konuppalapadu of Yadiki mandal in Anantapur district

‘Chairman exploring options’
A day after the in-charge secretaryy of AP Legislature sent back the file related to the select committee to the Council Chairman’s office, sources said the Chairman is exploring all options to set up the panel