VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh high court on Thursday ruled that the state government does not have legislative competence to pass any resolution/law for change of capital or bifurcating or trifurcating the capital city.
The Jagan Mohan Reddy government had dropped the plan to develop Amaravati as capital after coming to power in 2019 and decided to divide the capital between Amaravati, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool.
The court, however, directed the state government and the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) to complete town planning schemes according to the Amaravati capital city master plan within six months.
The judges held that only the Parliament had the powers to enact legislation on a state capital.
Applying the 'doctrine of living tree' and previous judgements of the Supreme Court, the high court said the legislature, executive and judiciary were part and parcel of the "supplemental, incidental or consequential provisions" employed in Article 4 of the Constitution and that Parliament alone was competent to undertake such exercise, not state legislature.
Interestingly, the Centre has notified Amaravati as capital of Andhra Pradesh and the same was published in the latest map by the Survey of India.
In a slew of directions given by the special bench of the high court headed by Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, Justice M Satyanarayana Murthy and Justice DVSS Somayajulu on Thursday, the state government and APCRDA were directed to complete infrastructure development and basic amenities. These included roads, electricity, drainage and other facilities within one month after the order pronounced.
APCRDA was directed to hand over developed plots returnable to the farmers, who gave land parcels for the construction of the capital city, within three months. The judges directed the state government and APCRDA not to alienate or mortgage the lands in capital Amaravati except for the construction of the capital city. They also said that APCRDA cannot alter the master plan suo moto.
The court further directed the state and the APCRDA to file separate periodical affidavits regarding the progress of implementation of directions issued with regard to developmental works. The high court directed the respondents to pay Rs 50000 each in as many as 16 petitions towards cost of the petitions. Regarding the reports of various committees constituted by the state government based on which the decision to trifurcate the capital was taken, the HC gave liberty to petitioners to challenge those reports whenever they find it necessary.
The YSRC government in December 2019 came up with a policy of "decentralisation of development" including capital and proposed three capitals for the state with administrative capital at Visakhapatnam, judicial capital at Kurnool and limiting Amaravati as legislative capital. The decision to trifurcate capital sparked instant protests in Amaravati capital region.
