Persuade CJI to list plea before March 28: SC to Andhra Pradesh government

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court Judge KM Joseph on Thursday asked the Andhra Pradesh government to persuade the Chief Justice of India to list the plea against the High Court’s order directing the State government to develop and construct Amaravati capital city and capital region within six months, before March 28.

The YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government last year had heaved a sigh of relief as the SC had stayed the HC’s order asking the State government to develop and construct Amaravati as the capital city and capital region within six months.

“Can the HC become a town planner?” the bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna remarked. The court also stayed the HC’s ruling of directing the State and the AP Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) to complete the process of redevelopment of Amaravati as the capital city within one month and handover developed reconstituted plots in Amaravati capital region to landholders, who surrendered their lands, within three months.

Frowning upon the HC issuing time-bound directions, Justice Nagarathna said, “It’s for the State to decide where the capital should be. The HC has overstepped its limits and it can’t become an executive.”
The Judge further said, “Making capital in one place is one issue and city is the other issue. Can the HC become a town planner? The court wants planning to be done in two months, even drawing can’t be made and they’ve issued directions. Whether the HC can issue directions by assuming the power of the executive? Courts are not governments. It cannot. Be subject matter of constitutional court to issue continuous mandamus.”

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The bench had also issued a notice to pleas filed by the AP government against the HC’s ruling of declaring ‘Amaravati’ the State capital. In March, the HC had a bench of Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, Justice M Satyanarayana Murthy and DVSS Somayajulu, directed the State and the APCRDA to build and develop the Amaravati capital city and capital region within six months as agreed under the APCRDA and Land Pooling Rules.

It also directed for handing over the developed and reconstituted plots belonging to land owners in Amaravati's capital region within three months. The HC had also said the State Assembly had no “legislative competence” for passing any resolution or law for a change of capital or bifurcating or trifurcating the capital city. The HC had thus effectively preempted the State’s move to revive its three-capital proposal.

The State government, in the petition before the SC, has argued that the HC’s judgement was violative of the doctrine of separation of powers since it preempts the legislature from taking up the issue. The State in the plea filed through advocate Mahfooz A Nazki has also said under the federal structure of the Constitution, every State has an inherent right to determine where it should carry out its capital functions.