PNS n Vijayawada
The Andhra Pradesh High Court, on Wednesday, heard a batch of petitions challenging the State government’s decision on shifting camp offices to Visakhapatnam. Recently, the State government issued G.O. 2283 for providing office space for senior functionaries including ministers at the Millenium Towers A&B at Rushikonda in Visakhapatnam. Following the recommendations of the Commerce of Officers, the State government issued the GO.
However, the order was challenged by Gadde Tirupathi Rao, managing trustee of the Amaravati Conservation Society, Mandala Srinivasa Rao, Valaparla Manoharam and farmers of Amaravati region. The petitioners approached the High Court seeking an interim order of stay on the government order.
Advocate General Subrahmanyam Sriram, representing the Andhra Pradesh government, told the court that there was no merit in the petition and argued that the issue which was supposed to be filed as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) had been filed as a writ petition.
He further said the matters related to Amaravati capital region can only be heard by the Chief Justice of India or the full bench.
He also said the petitioners deliberately filed the case as a writ petition and this was considered as forum shopping (the practice of deliberately choosing a specific court for a legal case in the hope of getting a favorable outcome).
The court posted the matter for next hearing on Friday.
