The State government’s proposal to have ‘three capitals’ might have run into a stumbling block in the form of an adverse judgment by the Andhra Pradesh High Court (HC), but the chapter appears to be far from closed.
This is because some Ministers have openly stated that decentralising the administration is a prerogative of the government and its powers cannot be curtailed by courts.
Taking it a bit farther, a former minister wrote a letter to Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy stressing on the need for a special session of the Legislature to discuss the ‘doctrine of separation of powers’ thereby suggesting that the High Court exceeded its brief.
In an indication of what may come, MLAs Dharmana Prasada Rao, Kakani Govardhan Reddy, D. Sreedhar Reddy, Meruga Nagarjuna and Jogi Ramesh submitted questions on the steps being taken to remove the regional imbalances in order to ensure integrated development of the three regions for an oral answer to be given by Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy in the Assembly on Thursday, but it was postponed to another day.
Speaker Thammineni Seetharam said since the members wanted a detailed discussion on the subject, he was putting it off to some other day in the current session. Contained in the answer, the copies of which were supplied to the members and media, was an expression of “the government’s desire to have three capitals to achieve inclusive and balanced regional growth”.
The crux of the matter is that at the time of passage of Bills to repeal the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions and CRDA Repeal Acts in the Assembly in November 2021, Mr. Jagan announced that the government’s intention behind their withdrawal was to come up with comprehensive legislation that “dispels the wrong notions of the land-givers in Amaravati” and clarify its position on the legalities vis-a-vis AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 and the alleged violation of agreements entered with over 25,000 farmers under the Land Pooling Scheme.
Revised Bill?
Against this backdrop, speculation is rife for the last few days that the government will be introducing a “revised” three capitals Bill during the ongoing Budget session of the Legislature next week in spite of the High Court judgment, which has not yet been challenged in the Supreme Court.
However, some land-owners in Amaravati have filed caveat petitions in the apex court soon after the High Court ordered that the Amaravati master plan should be implemented in six months and even issued a continuous mandamus, which put the government in a tight spot.
It may be recalled that the original Acts were referred to a select committee by the Legislative Council chairman when the Telugu Desam Party had a majority in the Upper House, but it is going to be a cakewalk now as the ruling party is in a dominant position.
With a tally of 151 out of 175 MLAs, the ruling YSR Congress Party has been in the driver’s seat right from Day 1 in the Assembly. Whether the government brings a fresh Bill in the exercise of its legislative powers, which will essentially result in a confrontation with the judiciary, and its likely consequences remains to be seen.
