Legal challenges haunt AP government as it completes 1 year

VIJAYAWADA: Several ambitious projects proposed by the AP government, including trifurcation of the state capital and introduction of English as medium of instruction in government schools, have not been able to take off due to legal tangles. As many as 65 decisions of YSRC government were challenged in court in the last one year.
As chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy completes one year in office on Saturday, legal experts point out that officials could have made a thorough legal scrutiny of the decisions before making the announcement.
It began with the decision to shift the state capital from Amaravati limiting it to just a seat of legislative power. YSRC government had proposed to make Visakhapatnam the executive capital and Kurnool the judicial capital. While the legislation was passed in the state assembly it was turned down in the legislative council, which was later abolished. Farmers, who gave up their prime land parcels for Amaravati, challenged in court the decision to shift the state capital. The decision to abolish the council was also challenged.
Then came the government’s decision to introduce English as the medium of instruction in government schools. Soon after YSRC came to power, it cancelled the contract of Polavaram hydroelectric project awarded to Navayuga Engineering Company Limited. The legal battle on Polavaram is not yet over. The cancellation of power purchase agreements (PPAs) with renewable energy producers triggered yet another legal battle. With the matter being sub judice, the government could not implement its decision.
Even the way the police handled the Amaravati protesters had invited judicial intervention. The high court had made serious comments in the matters of evicting people, who are beneficiaries of assigned lands, with the help of police, and the arrest of former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu at Visakhapatnam airport.