The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday, following an impleadment petition, that alleged ‘indiscriminate and illegal allotment’ of government land in the state’s upcoming capital, Amaravati.
The petition alleged that the land was being allotted in favour of politicians related to the ruling TDP party in the state.
In his petition, the petitioner raised questions on the allotment of developed plots in and around Amaravati, to people who were holding powerful positions in the Andhra government, instead of people who have surrendered their lands as part of the state’s land pooling scheme.
The petitioner submitted documents to the apex court, which suggested irregularities in at least 25 instances of allocation of land, that were given to the families of Ministers, MLAs, MLCs or their benamis, News18 reported.
The media report adds that names of Municipal Administration Minister P Narayana, MLA GVS Anjaneyulu, MLA Dullipalla Narendra, MLC Payyavulu Keshav and Minister Palle Raghunath Reddy also surfaced in the list.
The petitioner also questioned the allocation of government land to several private institutions like Amrita University and Indo-UK Institute of Health, without allegedly abiding to any policy.
The petition contented that the government was acting merely on the recommendation of senior leaders.
After hearing the petitioner, the Supreme Court listed the case to August 17.
Earlier in March, during an Assembly session, YSRCP chief and Opposition Leader Jaganmohan Reddy had alleged irregularities in these allotments, and accused Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) officials of 'joining hands' with TDP leaders.
The CRDA is responsible for all such operations in the state, dealing with allotment of land, and construction of Amaravati.
Jagan also criticised the allotment of key plots to TDP VIPs on seed access roads and roads having exposure to commercial zones, DC reported.
However, following the criticism, CRDA commissioner Dr Cherukuri Sreedhar rubbished the allegations.
A DC report quotes the CRDA commissioner saying, “All documents were made available during trial run of lottery system, and the same can be examined by anybody at any point of time."