Unprecedented scenes were witnessed on the Floor of the Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
What started as a discussion on integrated development of the three regions turned into a marathon debate on ‘legislative competence’, with the MLAs, beginning with Dharmana Prasada Rao, reiterating that the legislative competence “lies with the Assembly,” in reference to the Andhra Pradesh High Court verdict to retain Amaravati as the overall capital and ruling that the State government did not have the legislative competence to change the capital of the State.
Mr. Prasada Rao traced the history of the legislature from the times of the Provincial Assembly, and said there should be clarity on separation of powers.
Quoting several judgments of the Supreme Court, Finance Minister Buggana Rajendernath said the legislature “is supreme and courts cannot interfere in the policy matters unless there is violation of fundamental rights.”
Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy said the judiciary should not overstep its purview, while K. Parthasarathy said the three capitals issue had been dragged into a legal tangle by vested interests.
Quoting Aristotle, Montesquieu, and B.R. Ambedkar, they said the doctrine of separation of powers should be adhered to and a mix-up of powers of the legislature, the executive and the judiciary would lead to chaos and dictatorship.
Mr. Prasada Rao found fault with the high court remark that “a change in government need not give rise to change in policy,” and highlighted that it was the people’s mandate that brought in the legislators to make laws that no other domain could do.
Judicial activism
He asserted that the “courts cannot run the government and judges cannot legislate,” and reminded the dictums given by the Supreme Court stating that “judicial activism can act as an unguided missile.”
Kolusu Parthasarathy came down heavily on the Opposition leaders, who had misled the concept of decentralisation and the three capitals issue for the sake of political gain.
He said the TDP government had estimated that ₹1 lakh crore was needed for developing basic infrastructure in the capital city, and feared that it could hamper the development of the other regions of the State.
Decentralisation was proposed to fulfil the aspirations of all the three regions, especially to develop Rayalaseema and the North Andhra regions that were neglected for decades, he added.
Mr. Bhaskar Reddy said every system had to work within its boundaries. He said the MLAs and MPs had a responsibility to fulfil the aspirations of and promises made to the people.
Referring to the Collegium System for appointment of judges, he stressed the need for putting in place a selection system such as the UPSC, besides having a system under the President to probe judicial misconduct.
Mr. Rajendranath traced the history of Andhra since it separated from Madras and the sub-regional aspirations that had led to bifurcation of the State following concentration of development on a single city.
He said the government intended to bring balanced regional development through decentralisation to avoid such differences as recommended by both the Srikrishna and Sivaramakrishnan committee reports.
He stated that it was not right for the courts to interfere with the legislature and change the decisions made in the State Assembly, as the legislature was supreme in policy matters.
‘Mutual respect needed’
Assembly Speaker Thammineni Seetharam said there should be harmony and mutual respect among all the three constitutional organs, and added that “the legislature, the executive and the judiciary must confine to their domains, without crossing the thin line of separation of powers, which is the spirit of the Constitution and that should be continued.”
