Case posted for July 11 to be heard by a new bench
PNS|Vijayawada
In a setback to the AP government, the Supreme Court, on Tuesday, refused to grant a stay on the State High Court’s judgment of March 3, 2022, in three capitals case and extended the hearing date by another three-and-a-half months. A division bench of the Apex Court, comprising Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagaratna, heard the special leave petition filed by the YSRCP government challenging the High Court’s judgment. The bench declared that it is not possible to expedite the case as desired by the state government.
The counsel for the government KK Venugopal repeatedly pleaded to grant a stay on the High Court’s judgment. However, the Supreme Court bench rejected the plea and decided to hear the petition on July 11.
Venugopal argued that the High Court’s verdict had no meaning after the State government withdrew the three capitals bill, but the court refused to entertain the plea.
Interestingly, Justice Joseph said that he would not be able to take up the next hearing as he was going to retire on June 16. He further said that with such short notice, a prolonged hearing of the case and delivering the judgment was not possible. Justice Joseph announced that a new bench would be created to hear the case, and the case was therefore being posted to July 11.
Meanwhile, counsel for the petitioners stated that some of the farmers who were involved in the case had died and requested the court to allow their representatives to be impleaded in the case. The bench agreed to their request and asked the government lawyers to send notices to the fresh petitioners. They also appealed to the bench to order a status quo on the implementation of the high court order. Interestingly, the Centre filed an affidavit that Amaravati was declared the capital of AP as per the AP Reorganisation Act and did not receive any communication from the ruling government on the formation of three capitals.
