Suspense continues to prevail on whether Andhra Pradesh will have Amaravati as the only capital or three capitals, as proposed by YSR Congress party president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The Supreme Court bench, comprising Justice K M Joseph and Justice B V Nagaratna, which was supposed to take up the hearing on Tuesday, did not take it up as it was not listed due to heavy work load of cases.
The bench has now listed the matter to February 7. In the meantime, another public interest litigation filed by one Mastan Vali of Prakasam district in support of decentralised administration has also come up for hearing; and that has also been clubbed with the original petitions and the SLP of the Jagan government.
While the Supreme Court lifted stay on the six-months’ time frame fixed by the state high court, it has not granted any stay on the high court order declaring Amaravati as the only capital. This has become a hindrance to the Jagan government to go ahead with its three capitals’ plan.
However, the chief minister decided that he would shift his administration to Visakhapatnam in the coming months, irrespective of the high court judgement, since there is no bar on the place of operation by the chief minister.
Meanwhile, the Amaravati farmers are said to be planning to file a contempt petition in the Supreme Court on the chief minister’s statement that Visakhapatnam is going to be the capital of the state.
They are questioning how the chief minister could make such a statement when the issue was in the Supreme Court. This petition is also expected to come up before the bench on February 7, sources said.