AP govt may file review plea on Amaravati

VIJAYAWADA: The High Court of Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday observed that it would be improper for it to hear a contempt petition against the State government regarding the development of the Amaravati capital region since a Special Leave Petition (SLP) on the issue is under the consideration of the Supreme Court. The court also decided to wait until the apex court issued its judgment on the SLP, and deferred the hearing on the contempt petition to October 17.

Earlier, Advocate General S Sriram submitted before the high court that the State government was advised to file an affidavit seeking a review of its verdict to develop Amaravati as the capital in six months. Sriram said the State had already filed an affidavit seeking a six-week extension for developing Amaravati. While hearing petitions filed by farmers from the Amaravati capital region, the court had in March directed the State to develop Amaravati on the lines proposed by the previous government, and set a deadline of six months.

On Tuesday, the Advocate General said there were adequate reasons for the government to file an affidavit seeking a review of the court’s order and sought time to explain them. Asked if an SLP was filed in the Supreme Court, Sriram said it was filed by the petitioners. He added that they had filed a memo stating that the government’s status report on the progress of works could be considered for all the writ petitions regarding Amaravati.

HC seeks copy of farmers’ SLP

The court noted that since the government had not filed the SLP, it has to respond to the contempt petitions filed in the case. Advocate U Muralidhar Rao, representing the farmers, said they had filed an SLP as the high court did not consider some of the issues raised by them. Rao clarified that they did not challenge the high court verdict in the SLP. When the high court asked for a copy of the SLP, Rao sought time to submit it.