The Supreme Court would hear the Amaravati case on February 23. The bench consisting of Justice K M Joseph and Justice Nagarathna on Monday posted the case for next hearing on February 23.
Advocates representing the farmers made an appeal to the bench seeking more time as they have received the copies of the Supreme Court direction seeking to file counter challenging the State government’s special leave petition.
The State government had filed the SLP in the supreme court challenging the AP high court’s decision that the state has no power to alter the capital once fixed. The high court on March 3, 2022 said that the previous government had fixed Amaravati as capital and the successive government cannot change it.
The State government said that it has the power to altern the capital and the decision on the capital is at the discretion of the state government. When the Supreme Court took up the case, it had directed the Central government and the farmers to file their counter petitions.
On Monday, when the case came up before the bench the farmers said that they had received the copies of the court order only on January 27 and would require at least two weeks to file counters.
The bench accepted the request and posted the case to February 23.
Meanwhile, the state government had made an appeal to the Supreme Court to dispose of the Amaravati case at the earliest. The state government is planning to shift the secretariat and the chief minister’s camp office to Visakhapatnam, which was designated as the executive capital of the state.
Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had already announced that Visakhapatnam would be the capital of the state in the days to come. He also invited the investors to the global summit to be held at Visakhapatnam in the first week of March.
The chief minister told the investors that he would also be shifting to Visakhapatnam in the coming months.
Considering all these factors, the state government made an appeal to the apex court to dispose of the case without further delay. It is to be seen what the court would decide when it takes up the case on February 23.
