Amaravati farmers have been opposing the creation of the R5 zone and sought direction preventing the distribution of the land to the poor.
GO 1 permits the police to restrict the conduct of public meetings on roads and other forms of demonstrations. (Creative Commons)
In what has come as a shot in the arm for the YSRCP government, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday, 5 May, cleared the way for the distribution of house site pattas to the poor in the R5 zone in the capital region of Amaravati.
Zoning Regulation 5, which is loosely referred to as the R5 zone, was created by amending the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA)’s master plan.
The Amaravati farmers have been opposing the creation of the new R5 zone in the capital region and filed a petition seeking interim direction to prevent the government from distributing the land to the poor in the zone.
After arguments, the court finally dismissed the petition of the farmers seeking the annulment of Government Order (GO) No 45 issued in 2022 for the distribution of lands to the poor in Vijayawada and Guntur.
The land in Mandadam, Ainavolu, Mangagiri, Krishnayapalem, Nidamarru, and Kuragallu villages has been set up in the R5 zone for the distribution as house sites to the poor.
The land that has been set apart for distribution was the land that was offered under the land pooling scheme to the erstwhile TDP government by farmers for the construction of the capital city of Amaravati.
The farmers who donated the land to the then TDP government filed a petition in the high court seeking interim orders, restraining the government from going ahead in distributing their land given for the construction of the capital, as house sites to the poor.
They argued that they had surrendered their land in return for developed plots for commercial and as well as residential use.
After hearing the arguments by Additional Advocate General Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy, the Andhra Pradesh High Court ruled that the distribution of house sites should be in accordance with the court verdict.
It also reminded the government that the capital is not meant for one section or one person.
The court held that the distribution of lands in the capital region to the poor is part of the development process.
The court said that it was unfair to demand that lands should not be given to specific sections of people, adding that the farmers did not own the land but the CRDA.
It also advised that it was not proper to try to obstruct the decisions of the government.
Saying that decision-making was a part of governance, the high court noted that the courts could not prevent the government from taking decisions.
The amendment to the CRDA was to hand over different zones spread over 900.97 acres — U1 (reserved zone), C5 (regional centre zone), 13 (non-polluting industry zone), C4 (town centre zone), S2 (educational zone) I1 (business-park zone) and C3 (neighbourhood centre zone) — to R5 (affordable/EWS housing zone).
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![[Left] File photo of BJP MLA Harish Poonja, who has been booked, and [right] Poonja sitting for a protest in front of Belthangady Police Station in the early hours of Sunday, 19 May, 2024.](https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media.thesouthfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Harish-Poonja-and-Belthangady.jpg "Harish Poonja and Belthangady")
