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The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday, August 24, directed the state government to ensure that construction of the proposed USD 15-billion Google-Adani data-centre project in Visakhapatnam is carried out only after obtaining all necessary legal and environmental permissions.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Lisa Gill issued the direction while hearing a petition challenging various approvals granted for the project. The court did not accept the petitioner's request for an interim status quo, which would have halted work at the site. Instead, it asked the government to ensure that construction complies with all applicable regulations.
The court also directed the state to file a consolidated response from the departments involved in granting approvals. The matter is expected to come up again next week.
The petition, filed by Bolisetty Satyanarayana, raises several concerns about the project, including the use of around 160 acres of land belonging to Simhachalam Devasthanam. The petitioner argued that the temple land could not be alienated without the High Court's permission, citing an earlier court order.
The state government disputed this claim, telling the court that the land had not been transferred but leased by the temple authorities to the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC). According to the state's counsel, the arrangement would generate around Rs 26 crore in annual revenue for the temple.
Environmental compliance was another key issue before the court. The petitioner argued that the existing environmental clearance covered construction of the building but did not extend to the actual operation of the data centre. Concerns were also raised about the project's proximity to a protected area, with the petitioner claiming the site is around 0.86 km away and could therefore attract stricter environmental scrutiny.
The petition also questions the project's expected water consumption and electricity and whether the impact on nearby resources has been adequately assessed.
The Google-Adani project is part of a broader push to establish Visakhapatnam as a major data-centre hub. Google announced plans for a USD 15-billion AI hub in the city in October 2025, to be developed over five years. It subsequently partnered with AdaniConneX, the data-centre joint venture of the Adani Group and EdgeConneX, for a gigawatt-scale campus.
Construction for the project began in April 2026. The project is expected to have a planned capacity of nearly 1 GW and form a major part of Google's expansion of AI and cloud infrastructure in India.
The legal challenge comes as Andhra Pradesh seeks to attract large-scale data-centre investments. The state has set a target of 6 GW of data centre capacity under its Data Centre Policy 4.0, which offers incentives to eligible projects.