Andhra High Court orders status quo on shifting offices away from Amaravati

Andhra Pradesh High Court at Amaravati on Tuesday ordered status quo on the shifting of offices away from Amaravati, in a setback to the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government’s proposal to trifurcate the capital.

The YSR Congress government is proposing to trifurcate the capital in the place of having a unified Greenfield capital city at Amaravati as planned and half-built by his predecessor N Chandrababu Naidu, who had pooled around 34,000 acres from farmers.

The Reddy government, which wants to set up the executive capital at Visakhapatnam, judicial capital at Kurnool and confine Amaravati as mere legislative capital, obtained approvals of the Assembly to the bills and also the nod of the Governor last week.

The Amaravati High Court bench consisting of Justices Rakeh Kumar, AV Sesha Sai and M Satyanarayana Murthy on Tuesday ordered status quo on the issue of decentralised capital cities.

The court was hearing the petitions of thousands of farmers filed through a joint action committee. When the government sought ten days of time to file its counter, the counsel for the petitioners expressed suspicion that the government may resort to shifting the offices away from Amaravati meanwhile. Responding to this, the court ordered status quo on the capital row till August 14.

The development comes even as the farmers and Opposition parties were busy exploring legal options to challenge the governor’s recent decision to approve the bills on trifurcation of capital, contending that those bills were in fact sent to the select committee by the Legislative Council.

They also contend that various cases filed by farmers, civil society bodies, and opposition parties against the trifurcation of capital and repeal of Amaravati capital region development authority bill were being heard by the courts that passed interim stay orders.

The cases filed by thousands of farmers in 29 villages in Amaravati region, who had pooled their farmlands for Greenfield capital city, came up for hearing on Tuesday.

“This assent of Governor is against the basic structure of Constitution, will of people and a law which is in derogation of fundamental rights,” said Jandhyala Ravi Shankar, a Constitutional lawyer. “Laws made by legislature generally be treated as for the good of the people until they are proved to be against fundamental rights.”

“When Andhra Pradesh was formed (in 2014), Hyderabad was made a common capital for ten years and Hyderabad High Court was declared as a common High Court. After due consultations with and consent of the Supreme Court, Amaravati was chosen to be the seat of AP High Court,” said Constitutional expert Prof Sridhar Acharyulu, dean at the Bennett University’s law school and former central information commissioner. “It cannot be annulled by state legislation. Governor should have reserved it for the consideration by the President as mandated by Article 200 of the Constitution… Having three capitals at three different parts of a state and altering the capital are unheard of and not provided by the Constitution.”

The Amaravati High Court’s status quo orders come even as the farmers and Opposition parties were preparing to challenge the Governor’s decision and initiate contempt proceedings since the Amaravati High Court had already ordered the government not to shift any offices away from Amaravati anywhere till it disposes of the petitions.

Welcoming the High Court’s interim orders, the Opposition Telugu Desam Party, which had blocked the bills on trifurcation in the Legislative Council, demanded the ruling YSR Congress to move the people’s court on the trifurcation by dissolving the Assembly and seeking a fresh mandate.