Justice Ch. Manavendranath Roy of the Andhra Pradesh High Court gave permission to the 45-day “Maha Padayatra” proposed to be organised by Amaravati Parirakshana Samiti (APS) and Amaravati Farmers’ Joint Action Committee beginning November 1.
The Samiti and the farmers’ JAC have resolved to take out the padayatra from Amaravati to Tirumala to highlight their apprehensions about the government’s decision to divide the capital into legislative, executive and judicial capitals (Amaravati, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool), for which the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act, 2020 and the enabling legislation i.e. AP Capital Region Development Authority Repeal Act, was passed in the Assembly last year.
However, the police refused to permit the Maha Padayatra on the ground that it might cause law and order problems, in spite of assurances by the organisers that they intended to not to create any disturbances. Then they approached the High Court seeking permission, which came with some conditions.
