The Supreme Court (SC,) on the 26th of August, heard a petition filed by the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) Government.
The petition was filed against the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s status quo on the three capital issue of Andhra Pradesh.
However, a three bench judge of the SC refused to give any relief to the YSRCP Government.
The Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy led YSRCP Government filed a petition with a demand to lift the status quo issued by the A.P. HC.
The three judge bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R.Subhash Reddy and M.R.Shah said, “The order is pending with the high court and it may decide the issue expeditiously.” The bench further added, “The order has brought everything to a standstill. Preparations have to be done.”
Arguing on the judgement, Rakesh Dwivedi, advocate representing the State Government said, “It has never happened that the judiciary has decided where the executive will function from.”
The three capitals of Andhra Pradesh proposed by Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in December 2019 drew a lot of criticism from the opposition.
The residents of 29 villages of Amaravati are protesting against the decision and demanding to revoke the bill.
In 2014, when Andhra Pradesh and Telangana became two independent states, the then ruling Government, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) assured Amaravati to be the State Capital. In regard to this, farmers of Amaravati’s villages gave their land under the Capital Development Region Authority (CDRA) Act.
However, when the YSRCP Government came in power in 2019 May, they proposed to have three capitals.
The bill has been approved by the State Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan and the Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh.
In July, Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan signed two bills, the Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill, 2020, and the AP Capital Region Development Authority (Repeal) Bill, 2020.
The Bills were sent to the Governor on July 18 and were formally signed on July 31.
If approved, Visakhapatnam would be the executive capital, Kurnool would be the judiciary capital and Amaravati would be the legislative capital.
