Stalemate on Andhra capital

On March 3 last year, the high court delivered the judgement declaring Amaravati as the only capital of Andhra Pradesh and ruled that the state legislature had no competence to pass legislation on three capitals. It directed that the state government complete the infrastructure in Amaravati in 6 months

Hyderabad

A division bench of the Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea by the state government to expedite the hearing and settle the capital issue. It said it could take up the hearing only on March 28, as there are many miscellaneous petitions pending in the matter. (HT photo)

The stalemate over Andhra Pradesh capital city continues as the Supreme Court on Monday deferred the hearing on the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government’s special leave petition by a month to decide on the three capitals for the state, people familiar with the matter said.

A division bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice K M Joseph and Justice B V Nagaratna refused to entertain a plea by the state government to expedite the hearing and settle the capital issue.

Senior counsel for the state government S Niranjan Reddy made a special mention before the bench requesting that the hearing be taken up and completed at the earliest.

The Supreme Court bench, however, said it could take up the hearing only on March 28, as there are many miscellaneous petitions pending in the matter.

In fact, the SLP had to come up for hearing on February 23 itself, but the bench couldn’t take it up due to pending cases.

The advocates appearing for Amaravati farmers submitted to the court that they needed time to file a counter.

On September 3, the Jagan government challenged the high court orders in the Supreme Court. The first hearing of the petitions was held on November 28, 2022 where the apex court gave a stay on the HC’s directions to develop infrastructure in Amaravati within a stipulated time-frame.

Meanwhile, the Jagan government has declared that Visakhapatnam would be the capital of the state.

Last week, state finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy declared at an investors’ meeting in Bengaluru that the “three capitals for the state” was a misconception and Visakhapatnam is going to be the actual capital.

He said Visakhapatnam was chosen for the capital because it already had infrastructure like ports, industries, ideal climate, cosmopolitan culture and had the scope for expansion with little investment.

Earlier, chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy also declared at a meeting in Delhi that Visakhapatnam is going to be the capital of Andhra Pradesh in the days to come and he, too, would be moving his office there very soon.