VIJAYAWADA: Reiterating its stand that it has no role to play in the State capital issue, the Centre on Wednesday told the AP High Court that the State government had not consulted it while framing the AP Capital Region Development Authority Repeal Act, 2020.
The Centre said this in an affidavit filed in the High Court, which was hearing the petition filed by Done Sambasiva Rao and others challenging the AP Capital Region Authority Repeal Act, 2020.
Lalitha T Hedaoo, under secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, in the counter-affidavit, said under Section 6 of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, the Centre constituted an expert committee under the chairmanship of retired IAS officer K C Sivaramakrishnan to study alternatives for a new capital for AP and based on the report the Committee, Amaravati was notified as the Capital city of AP.
Subsequently, the government of AP, through AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act, 2020, provided three seats of governance in AP with Amaravati as legislative capital, Visakhapatnam as executive capital and Kurnool as judicial capital.
“The AP CRDA Repeal Act, 2020, was introduced and passed by the State legislature of AP. While framing the Act, the State government has not consulted the Central government. The matter concerns the State government and the Central government has no part therein. Further, the capital city of a State is decided by the respective State government and the Central government has no role to play,’’ the Centre said.
Though the Centre made it clear in an earlier affidavit filed in the High Court that it is a State subject, in the affidavit filed on Wednesday it mentioned the point that the State government did not consult it while framing the Repeal Act.