The Andhra Pradesh High Court has directed the state government to ensure that work on the proposed $15 billion Google-Adani data-centre project in Visakhapatnam is carried out with all required legal and environmental permissions, according to a report by Mint.
A bench led by Chief Justice Lisa Gill issued the direction after the court was told that work at the project site had already begun. The court did not grant the petitioner’s request for an interim status quo but asked authorities to ensure that the work had the necessary approvals.
The court also directed the state government to submit a consolidated response from the departments involved in granting approvals for the project. The matter will be heard next week.
Why the project is facing legal challenge
The petition, filed by Bolisetty Satyanarayana, has raised questions over 160 acres of Simhachalam Devasthanam land being used for the project. It also raises concerns about the project’s proximity to a protected area and whether the required environmental clearances cover the data-centre operations.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that the environmental clearance obtained for the project covered construction of the building but not the actual operation of the data centre. He also questioned approvals issued after Google announced the project, saying Google’s name did not appear in the clearances.
The petition further claims that the project site is around 0.86 km from a protected area and could require stricter environmental scrutiny. Questions have also been raised over the project’s water and electricity requirements.
What Andhra Pradesh government told court
The state government disputed the petitioner’s claim over the temple land. Its counsel said the land had not been transferred but leased by the temple authorities to the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC).
The state said the lease would generate around ₹26 crore a year for the temple. It maintained that the arrangement did not amount to a transfer of the land.
Political concerns over resources
Separately, former Andhra Pradesh Minister and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leader Gudivada Amarnath raised critical questions regarding the infrastructure, resource allocation, and environmental safeguards surrounding the proposed hyper-scale data centre projects in Visakhapatnam.
Speaking to reporters, Amarnath highlighted growing concerns expressed by local residents and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) following the announcement made by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for the establishment of data centres in the state.
"Yesterday, Chandrababu Naidu Garu, in his meeting in Visakhapatnam, announced some projects regarding data centres. See, there is a lot of discussion happening on data centres that are being established in Visakhapatnam. There are a lot of NGOs speaking on that. Initially, when there was an announcement on a Google Data Centre being set up in Visakhapatnam, we had some questions raised to the government regarding the allotment of water to the companies, giving power to the company, as well as the environmental issues that are going to come up because of setting up data centres in this area," he said.
Questioning the state government on the establishment of data centres, Amarnath noted that a single large-scale data centre can consume electricity equivalent to the entire hourly power demand of Visakhapatnam city. He urged the government to detail plans for expanding grid transmission capacity, upgrading supply lines, and building necessary support systems to ensure local residents do not face power instability.
"When you are setting up or giving permissions to these companies, what is the roadmap that you have taken on supplying water to these data centres that are coming up? And how do you restore the grid through which the power is being supplied to these data centres? Because the grid capacity today is sufficient for the needs of the people who are living in this area. When you are setting up or giving permissions to these companies, what is the roadmap that you have taken on supplying water to these data centres that are coming up? And how do you restore the grid through which the power is being supplied to these data centres? Because the grid capacity today is sufficient for the needs of the people who are living in this area."