A day after Andhra Pradesh legislative council chairman Mohd Ahmed Sharif who stalled the passage of the bills on APCRDA abolition and decentralisation of capitals by sending them to select committee, the state high court further dampened the spirits of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government.
On Thursday, the high court bench headed by chief justice J K Maheshwari ordered a status quo on Amaravati capital till the hearing on the petitions are completed.
It directed that the state government should not shift of offices including secretariat from Amaravati till the laws are enacted.
If the government still goes ahead with the shifting of offices, it would be held responsible for the consequences, the chief justice said.
The high court bench issued this direction while hearing a batch of petitions filed by farmers of Amaravati challenging the government’s decision to shift the administrative capital of the state to Visakhapatnam.
When the chief justice asked for the status report on the bills, state advocate general Sriram Subrahmanyam said the two bills were passed by the assembly but were held up in the legislative council, which referred the same to the select council.
The chief justice said there was no need to conduct hearings at this stage, but counsel for petitioners Ashok Bhan argued that the government might go ahead with shifting of offices out of Amaravati, if the court did not take up hearing.
Following this, Justice Maheshwari gave the direction to the government not to shift the offices till the cases are disposed.
