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Andhra govt moves SC challenging HC order against 3 Capitals plan
The YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh plans to have three Capitals in the state with Amaravati as the legislative Capital, Visakhapatnam as the executive Capital and Kurnool as the judicial Capital
The Andhra Pradesh government has approached the Supreme Court against the high court order stalling the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government’s move to have an ambitious three-Capital plan for the state by directing that all three civic wings of the state – legislature, executive and judiciary-- will have Amaravati as the common capital.
The high court on March 3 directed the state government to develop the Capital city and the Capital region within six months. The state government aimed to establish Amaravati as the legislative Capital, Visakhapatnam as the executive Capital and Kurnool as the judicial Capital.
In an appeal filed on Saturday, the state government said that under the federal structure, every state has an inherent right to determine where it should carry out its capital functions from. “To hold that state does not have the power to decide on its Capital is violative of the basic structure of the Constitution,” the state said in its appeal filed through advocate Mahfooz A Nazki.
A three-judge bench of the high court comprising chief justice Prasanth Kumar Mishra and justices M Satyanarayana Murthy and DVSS Somayajulu in its verdict held that the state government had no “legislative competence” to change or remove Amaravati as the capital of the three civic wings – legislature, executive, and judiciary of the state. The high court scoffed at the state’s legislative enactments finding it to be an abuse of power and arbitrary exercise of power.
The court slammed the state government claiming that its plan to change the capital smacked of “malafides” as it deprived 30,000 unsuspecting farmers of their livelihood and their right to live a dignified life.
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The 307-page verdict came on a clutch of petitions filed by landowners of Amaravati who sacrificed their livelihood by surrendering their agricultural land in the Land Pooling scheme for development of the Capital city and the capital region.
The petitioner landowners challenged the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority Repeal Act, 2020 and the Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act, 2020 by which the state wanted to change Amaravati as the Capital of the state.
They submitted before the high court that the state failed to deliver on its promise to return the developed plots as per the final master plan within three years. This deadline expired on January 20. The high court directed the state and the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) to discharge their duties enshrined under the A.P. Capital Regional Development Authority (CRDA) Act and Land Pooling Rules. It also directed the government to develop the re-constitutional plots belonging to landowners and hand it over to them within three months.
The state in its appeal before the top court said that the issue has become “infructuous” as the two legislations under challenge in the high court were subsequently withdrawn. An affidavit to this effect was also filed by the principal secretary and additional secretary of the Municipal Administration & Urban Development Department before the high court.
Further, the state argued that the high court decision violated the doctrine of “separation of power” as it pre-empted the legislature from taking up the issue despite the two laws being withdrawn.
In August, while submitting a status report linked to the progress of work at Amaravati before the high court, state advocate general Subrahmanyam Sriram said, “The state government was actively considering filing a review petition challenging the March 3 judgment. It might alternatively file a special leave petition before the Supreme Court.” “The government was advised to file an affidavit in the high court seeking a review of its verdict to develop Amaravati as the state Capital within six months,” he added, according to an HT report.
The high court’s ruling set a six-month deadline for completion of the entire construction and development work of the Capital and said, “The reconstituted plots belonging to land owners be developed with all the amenities and handed over to the land holders within three months.” However, the state government informed the high court that six months was too little a time to carry out the orders.
