Chief Minister Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy has asserted that decentralisation of governance is the sole right of the Legislature and the decision on the capital is the right and responsibility of the State government.
“Decentralisation is our policy and the decision on the capital is our right and responsibility. We are committed to the all-round development of all regions of the State, while ensuring that the interests of farmers who have given land in Amaravati will be protected. There is no way going back on decentralisation,” Mr. Jagan said on the floor of Assembly, concluding a marathon discussion on the “Separation of Powers,’’ in the backdrop of the High Court verdict on March 3, ruling that the State government did not have the legislative competence to change the capital or to strip Amaravati from being capital of the Legislative, Executive and Judiciary wings of the State.
Mr. Jagan, who spoke for 45 minutes, said the State government would seek legal assistance on the issue.
“No courts can dictate the policies of the government. If we look at the Telangana revolution and the bifurcation of the State, we could see that it is due to over-centralisation of development in one region. Justice Sri Krishna committee said that decentralisation is key to equitable development and we are abiding by our policy on three capitals. The High Court’s verdict questioned the competency of the Legislature and the High Court exceeded its domain,” Mr. Jagan said.
While reiterating that the master plan designed by the TDP government to develop the capital city did not make any sense and instead cast a heavy financial burden on the State, he said: “While we have the interest of the rest of the State, consisting of 99.999%, we cannot invest a whopping ₹10 lakh crore to ₹15 lakh crore just to create basic infrastructure in the 54,0000 acres. It takes a minimum of 15 to 20 years just to create basic infrastructure in the region. Can we invest such a huge amount in just one region, while ignoring the rest of the State?”
Mr. Jagan earlier said that the Judiciary, Executive and Legislative wings were the three pillars of democracy and they should never transgress into other’s domain.
“Courts cannot pre-empt or direct not to make a policy with presumptions and lay down impossible conditions setting timelines which cannot be met. We repealed the CRDA Act and when there is no law, then why did the judgement come?” he questioned.
“We are holding this discussion to assert that policy making is the domain of the Legislature. Law making is subject to public scrutiny for every five years. That is the reason why people rejected the previous government and gave us 151 seats of 175 seats, with a 86% of seat share and 51% cent of vote share,” the Chief Minister said.
Mr. Jagan also pointed out that Courts should not give impossible timelines and said that creating basic facilities within one month and completing the construction of the region within six months was impossible.
The Chief Minister said that while the court’s verdict implied that decisions relating to the capital are within the domain of the Central government according to AP Reorganisation Act 2014, the Centre had actually filed affidavits in the court stating that it had no role in the location of the capital. The Union government had even placed the facts on the floor of Lok Sabha that the capital city was determined by the respective State governments. Article 3 had provisions for creation of new States and there were no provisions relating to Capital.
“We want to again reiterate that while we have no intention to demean the High Court, we want to affirm that Legislature has the competence to enact laws in the interests of the State, and has the responsibility of protecting the rights of all sections of people,’’ the Chief Minister added.
