HC Strikes Down Two Pleas, Allows Construction of Seed Access Road to Amaravati

Vijayawada:The Andhra Pradesh High Court has struck down two separate petitions that challenged a notification issued by the government to construct a Seed Access Road in Amaravati.

The single judge bench of Justice Challa Gunaranjan pronounced the verdict here on Tuesday. He said a majority of the farmers had given their land voluntarily for construction of the road and that a major portion of the construction was completed. "In such a scenario, the construction should not be stopped on the basis of objections raised by a few farmers." Accordingly, the two petitioners were struck down.

The two petitions had been filed by eight persons from Penumaka and Undalli villages.

Petitioners’ senior counsel K.S. Murthy argued that the officials failed to comply with the norms during the acquisition of land of the petitioners and no compensation was given to the affected parties.

Advocate general Dammalapati Srinivas, on behalf of the state government, argued that the government complied with the norms relating to land acquisition.He said, “As the petitioners refused to accept award notices, the notices were stuck to their houses and later these were sent to them through registered post.”

He observed that the petitioners even sent the notices back without accepting them.

The government, AG said, had deposited the amount with the CRDA as the petitioners refused to accept the cheques of compensation. The road construction could be stopped just because 65 cents of land was not given, he said, and urged the court to strike down the petitions.