Andhra HC cannot be "town planner", says SC on high court order for building state capital in 6 mont
New Delhi(PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from farmers and their associations, and the Centre to a plea by the Andhra Pradesh government challenging the high court decision which said the state legislature "lacked competence" to make any law for shifting, bifurcating or trifurcating the capital.
It observed the Andhra Pradesh High Court cannot be a "town planner" or an "engineer" and direct the government that the capital city should come up in six months.
A bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna also stayed time-bound directions issued by the high court, including the one that said the state will construct and develop Amaravati capital city and capital region within six months.
The high court had also ordered the government and the authorities concerned to complete infrastructure development like roads, drainage and electricity and drinking water supply in the Amaravati Capital City and Region within one month.
The SC bench said it needs to examine the issue at length and posted a batch of petitions filed by the State, farmers, associations and their committees for further hearing on January 31.
The top court, which asked the parties to file their responses by December, was informed by senior advocate KK Venugopal that the state government has repealed the law for having three different capitals of the State.
On March 3, the high court had said the inaction of the State and Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA's) failure to develop the capital city and capital region as agreed to in terms of the Development Agreement-cum-Irrevocable General Power of Attorney, is nothing but a deviation from the promise made by the State, defeating legitimate expectation.
It had said the State and the APCRDA violated the fundamental rights of the petitioners (farmers), as they surrendered their only source of livelihood-over 33,000 acres of fertile land.
The high court had passed its 300-page verdict on a batch of 63 writ petitions filed by aggrieved farmers of Amaravati region against Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government's decision to make Visakhapatnam the Executive Capital, Kurnool the Judiciary Capital and Amaravati as the Legislative Capital of Andhra Pradesh.
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India-bound LPG tanker clears Hormuz
New Delhi (PTI): A tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for India has sailed out of the Strait of Hormuz and is now headed towards the country, an official statement said on Sunday.
The Marshall Islands-flagged LPG carrier MT Sarv Shakti, loaded with 46,313 tonnes of LPG and staffed by 20 crew, including 18 Indians, cleared the key shipping chokepoint on May 2 and is expected to reach Visakhapatnam on May 13, it said.
The cargo -- enough to meet half a days requirement of the country -- will partly tide over supply constraints being faced since the start of the West Asia conflict more than two months back.
Ship-tracking data showed its position in Oman Gulf on Sunday evening.
The very large gas carrier has previously made runs between the Persian Gulf and Indian ports, has been chartered by state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
Sarv Shakti is the first India-linked tanker to cross the war zone since a weeks-old US blockade of ships tied to Iran began, pushing transits through Hormuz back down to almost zero.
There are as many as 14 Indian flagged or India-owned vessels still stranded on the west side of the Strait of Hormuz.
The statement said no incident involving Indian-flagged vessels has been reported in the past 24 hours. The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways is working closely with the Ministry of External Affairs, Indian missions and maritime stakeholders to ensure crew welfare and uninterrupted operations.
The Directorate General of Shipping (DG Shipping) control room has handled 8,373 calls and more than 17,965 emails since activation, including 38 calls and 127 emails in the last 24 hours.
India has also facilitated the repatriation of more than 2,953 seafarers so far, including 31 in the past day from across the Gulf region.
Port operations across the country remain normal with no congestion reported, the statement added.
