The Andhra Pradesh government’s plea for an expeditious hearing of the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by it against the High Court (HC) order dated March 3, 2022, in the three capitals case has once again been turned down by the Supreme Court.
On July 11 (Tuesday), a Division Bench of the apex court, comprising Justices Sanjeev Khanna and Bela M. Trivedi, had said that a hearing of the SLP would be possible only in December by observing that the case required a lot of time for hearing, and they were busy with several important constitutional matters.
Also, they pointed out that there had still been no proper service on the respondents.
Through the SLP, the State government had challenged the impugned order of the High Court, which ruled that the State had no legislative competence to decide on the capital issue, and it should develop Amaravati as the capital in a time-bound manner.
While insisting that the A.P. Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act and the CRDA Repeal Act were intended to facilitate balanced growth of Uttarandhra, Rayalaseema, and central and southern coastal districts, the State also brought into picture the doctrine of separation of powers in its bid to justify its actions.
Tuesday’s order of the Supreme Court keeps the embers of the capital issue burning for a longer time even as the State is looking to give its model of decentralisation a tangible shape at the earliest.
Farmers vow to intensify stir
On the other side, thousands of farmers who had given their lands for construction of the capital city vowed to intensify their agitation against the proposed shifting of the capital out of Amaravati.
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had come up with the idea of having separate capitals for administrative (executive), legislative and judicial functions in 2019, and the issue had since locked up the government and the farmers in a bitter battle.
