HC SEEKS REPLY FROM STATE ON PIL OVER AMETHI DISTRICT

LUCKNOW: The Allahabad High Court on Thursday sought a reply from the state government on a PIL challenging creation of Amethi district on grounds that no infrastructure had been provided.

The order was passed here by the bench of chief justice Shiva Kirti Singh and justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya on two PILs filed by Ved Prakash Singh and others. The Lucknow bench of the court granted the state counsel two-weeks time to file a short counter affidavit.

The petitioner submitted that though the new district had been created, the required infrastructure had not been provided.

He submitted that there was no meaning of creating the new district without necessary infrastructure. He said that Rs 2,000 crore was required for the necessary infrastructure, which should be provided by the state government.

Appearing on behalf of the government, additional advocate general Bulbul Godiyal sought time for seeking instructions from the government.

The court granted the state counsel two-weeks time to file a short counter affidavit. It also gave time to the petitioner to file a supplementary affidavit giving details of the necessary infrastructure needed.

In July, the Akhilesh Yadav government had granted district status to Amethi, after the Allahabad high court had asked it to issue a fresh notification to this effect.

The notification had brought four assembly constituencies: Tiloi, Gauriganj, Amethi and Musafirkhana under the umbrella of Amethi, the parliamentary constituency of Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi.