Matter relates to the state proposing three separate capitals for the legislature, executive and judiciary, instead of just one at Amaravati.
Buildings under construction in Amaravati. (Wikipedia)
The Supreme Court on Monday, 14 November, set 28 November as the date to hear a clutch of petitions challenging the Andhra Pradesh High Court judgment holding that the Assembly has no competence to enact a law to create more than one capital in the state.
Among the petitions is the one by the Andhra Pradesh government of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy who has proposed what is called the three-capitals plan, instead of a single capital at Amaravati.
A bench comprising Justice KM Joseph and Justice Hrishikesh Roy posted the eight petitions related to the plan for hearing on 28 November even as former attorney general and senior lawyer KK Venugopal, representing the Andhra Pradesh government, told the court that the state was aggrieved by the high court holding the legislature lacks competence to shift, bifurcate or trifurcate the seat of legislature, judiciary and the executive.
While Venugopal informed the court that the law relating to the trifurcation of the state capital has been repealed, he wondered whether the high court had competence to say that no law relating to the capital could be passed in the future.
The court noted that there were in all 36 matters before it.
While 28 related to challenges to issues rooted in the law bifurcating the erstwhile state into Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, eight related to the high court’s March 3, 2022, judgement interdicting the state legislature from passing any law relating the capital, its bifurcation, or trifurcation.
In the case of the 28 petitions relating to the bifurcation of the state, the court noted that notices have been issued to various parties. However, no notices have been issued in the case of the eight petitions relating to the March 2022 judgement.
In the course of the hearing, it was suggested to the court that the petitions rooted in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act be de-linked from those concerning the high court judgement.
Andhra Pradesh, in its petition, has contended that the high court judgement completely undermines the federal structure of the Constitution by ruling that a state has no competence or jurisdiction to determine where and how many capitals it should have.
The YSRCP government of Chief Minister Jagan Reddy has proposed that instead of having a single capital, the state should have three — the legislative capital in Amaravati, the executive capital in Vizag, and the judicial capital in Kurnool.
The state government has contended that the high court erred in relying upon the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the 2021 Repeal Act to come to the conclusion that the state would in future make a suitable legislation for the trifurcation of the state’s capital, and that if such a legislation was made, the same would amount to a violation of the principle of legitimate expectation.
Such an anticipation on part of the high court was completely uncalled for, the Andhra Pradesh government has told the apex court.
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