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SC refuses to stay high court order on construction of houses for EWS section in Amaravati
A division bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Sanjeev Khanna said there was no hurry in taking a decision on the issue
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant a stay on the Andhra Pradesh high court’s interim order stalling the construction of houses for economically weaker sections (EWS) by the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government in the residential zone (R-5 zone) in the capital region of Amaravati, people familiar with the matter said.
A division bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Sanjeev Khanna, which took up the hearing on the special leave petition (SLP) filed by the state government seeking a stay on the high court order, said there was no hurry in taking a decision on the issue.
“We have to go deeper into the case, as the construction of houses involves expenditure of more than ₹1,000 crore of public money. There is no hurry to stay the high court orders,” Justice Khanna said, while deferring the case till November.
Senior counsel for the Andhra Pradesh government Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the government had sought an emergency stay on the high court order, as it was constructing houses which were sanctioned by the Central government. The plots were already distributed among the beneficiaries as per the earlier directions of the Supreme Court and the government has taken up construction of houses in these plots,” he said.
While rejecting the plea for an emergency stay, the Supreme Court bench said it would issue notices to the respondents (farmers of Amaravati) to file their counter within three weeks. “The government can file its rejoinder within another three weeks after the respondents file their counter,” the bench said.
On August 3, the Andhra Pradesh high court stalled the construction of houses for the EWS from other parts of the state in the residential zone (R-5) of Amaravati, which was proposed to be developed by the previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government as a world-class capital city of the state.
A three-member bench of the high court comprising justices D V S S Somayajulu, Cheekati Manavendranath Roy and Ravi Nath Tilhari issued the orders acting on a petition filed by the Amaravati farmers, who questioned the government’s move to change the original master plan of Amaravati for construction of the housing project.
The high court said the issue of Amaravati capital was pending for hearing in the Supreme Court and hence, the matter of allotment of land for the housing project was subject to the outcome of the apex court’s judgement. It said if the judgement goes against the government, it would lead to wastage of enormous amounts of public funds.
The state government on August 8 filed an SLP in the Supreme Court challenging the interim orders of the high court.
On July 24, chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy laid foundation stone for the construction of a massive housing colony of 50,793 houses for the poor at Krishanayapalem village in the core area of Amaravati at a cost of ₹1,829.57 crore, including ₹384.42 crore on creating infrastructure facilities like roads, electricity and drinking water.
Earlier on May 26, Jagan distributed house site pattas to the beneficiaries from Guntur and NTR districts. The housing sites were spread over 25 layouts in nine villages of Amaravati in the R-5 zone, which was created by amending the master plan of Amaravati in March this year.
This zone was previously earmarked for industries, businesses and other commercial purposes in the master plan for the Amaravati capital area. The Amaravati farmers opposed the change in the master plan and moved the high court on the ground that it would change the status of the capital region and affect their interests.
