A Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court comprising Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice U. Durga Prasad Rao on January 12 (Friday) reserved orders on the writ appeals filed by the Andhra Pradesh government against the verdict of a single judge not to shift any government office from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam till the matter is dealt by a Full Bench.
The court directed the government to furnish details of the officers and Heads of Departments who would be travelling to and from Visakhapatnam and the exact arrangement of the offices.
While appreciating the objective of the government to take governance to people’s doorsteps, the court said the matter was to be adjudicated in detail as to whether the move was intended to dilute the order of the Full Bench dated March 3, 2022, wherein it was ruled through a continuous Mandamus that the State has no legislative competence to shift the capital.
Advocate-General S. Sriram indicated that the matter could be referred to a Full Bench and the government was to file its counters. Senior advocate Unnam Muralidhar Rao argued for the Amaravati farmers.
It may be recalled that Justice Nimmagadda Venkateswarlu had restrained the State government from proceeding with the implementation of the impugned G.O. (RT.No.2283 dated November 22, 2023) through which ‘transit accommodation’ was proposed to be provided to the Chief Minister, Ministers and senior government officers during their visit to Visakhapatnam for holding review meetings on the development of the ‘Uttarandhra’ (northern districts of AP) region, till a Full Bench took a decision.
The State then filed writ appeals against the single judge’s interim order on the ground that the order amounted to imposing a status quo without going into the merits of the case.
The steps taken by the government to provide accommodation to the Chief Minister and others in Visakhapatnam were challenged by Amaravati Rajadhani Sameekarana Rythu Samakhya, Rajadhani Rythu Parirakshana Samithi and Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi managing trustee Gadde Tirupathi Rao with the basic argument that it was a part of the conspiracy to shift the capital out of Amaravati in tune with the concept of ‘decentralization and inclusive development of all regions’.
