Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday (March 26th) decided to hear the petitions challenging the Andhra Pradesh Decentralization and Inclusive Developments of All Regions Act and the Andhra Pradesh CRDA repeal bill from May 3rd, 2021.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court would hear the petitions opposing the three-capital plan and the demotion of Amaravati from its sole mega capital status on a daily basis from May 3rd.

It was clarified that the decision on the form of hearing of these cases in the way of physical trial/video conference / hybrid procedures would be taken depending on the circumstances of the day.

The Division Bench of Andhra Pradesh High Court led by Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami and including Justice Joymalya Bagchi and N. Jayasurya, has decided to hear a fresh set of pleas regarding the government's proposal to have three capital cities.

The Amaravati farmers, who parted with about 33,000 acres of land in 2015 for the grand, Greenfield capital planned by the then Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, are in continuous agitation since December 2019. According to sources, there are at least 90 petitions that are pending in court.

Advocate General (AG) S. Sriram on behalf of the government responded by saying that there is an urgent need to hold an inquiry into these cases. The trial schedule was finalized and a limited number of lawyers were asked to conduct the trial in a hybrid procedure. It was requested that the cases relating to the allotment of houses in the capital area be separated from these cases and investigated thoroughly.

At this point, the tribunal responded by reminding that there was a series of holidays in the second week of April. The inquiry will continue after the schedule is finalized. At the request of the Additional Advocate General (AAG) Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy, the court adjourned the case till May 3rd.

In January, Justice JK Maheshwari was replaced with Justice Goswami as the AP High Court chief justice, which is said to have caused an intermission in the case proceedings.

The reconstituted bench is expected to hear the arguments from the beginning, advocates stated. “The court has decided to hear the case on a daily basis from May 3rd and utilize the recess in June to review the merits of both side arguments in detail," VV Lakshminarayana, counsel for the Amaravati capital farmers told a leading news agency.

Also Read: Executive Capital Will Shift To Vizag Once Legal Hurdles Are Over: Botsa Satyanarayana

Municipal administration Minister Botsa Satyanarayana has said that the executive capital would be shifted to Visakhapatnam anytime as legal hurdles are set to be sorted out soon.

He told the media here on Sunday (March 28th) that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy wants to develop all regions in the state and shifting of capitals would help achieve this goal.