The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave bad news to AP chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on the Amaravati issue. The court posted the case for next hearing in December this year.

The Supreme Court bench consisting of Justice Sanjeev Khanna and Justice B M Trivedi said that it would take up full-fledged hearing of the case only in December. This has come as a shock to Jagan Mohan Reddy who is planning to move to Visakhapatnam in September this year.

Jagan Mohan Reddy had already committed that he would be staying in Visakhapatnam from September. He expected a positive order from the Supreme Court and hence made the announcement. He told the investors summit in Visakhapatnam a couple of months ago that he would be living in Visakhapatnam from September making it the executive capital of the state.

The State government had gone for appeal on the AP high court judgment which said that the decision on the capital was not in the purview of the state legislature as such a decision was already taken once. The AP high court also directed the state government to complete development of Amaravati as the capital in six months.

The supreme court had issued notices to the Amaravati farmers on the state government’s appeal and had been hearing the case. The Amaravati farmers have been insisting upon the state government to develop Amaravati as the only capital of the state. They cite the agreement signed between them and the AP Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) during the TDP regime in 2016-17.

However, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government had proposed three capitals with Amaravati as the legislative capital, Kurnool as judicial capital and Visakhapatnam as executive capital. The chief minister planned to move to Visakhapatnam in 2020 itself but has been postponing it as the Amaravati farmers have challenged the move.

It is now to be seen what Jagan Mohan Reddy does in the light of the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case only in December.