Andhra Pradesh government approaches Supreme Court against HC's decision on three capitals

The Jaganmohan Reddy government planned to develop Vishakhapatnam as administrative capital, Kurnool as judicial capital and Amaravati as legislative capital

The Andhra Pradesh government has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the High Court's judgement ordering the state government to develop only Amaravati as the capital of the state.

The March 3 judgement came as a setback to the Y S Jaganmohan Reddy government which planned to develop Vishakhapatnam as administrative capital, Kurnool as judicial capital and Amaravati as legislative capital.

In a special leave petition, the state government contended the High Court's judgement holding that the state does not have the power to decide on its capital is violation of the basic structure of the Constitution.

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It also contended that the High Court's decision is violative of doctrine of Separation of Powers since it preempts the legislature from taking up the issue.

"Under the Federal Structure of the Constitution, every state has an inherent right to determine where it should carry out its capital functions from," it said.

The petition was filed by advocate Mehfooz Nazki on behalf of the state government.

A group of farmers opposed the scrapping of the Capital Region Development Authority Act and the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act.

The issue had become infructuous since the two legislations had been repealed subsequently by the state government, which, however, said that those would be brought in new form.

In its order, the High Court had directed the state government to construct and develop Amaravati capital city and region within six months.

It also ordered the state government to develop the reconstituted plots, which belonged to the farmers who gave away their lands for the capital city.

The High Court also said the state government should provide drinking water, approach roads, electricity, drainage etc., within three months.