Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy reiterated his government’s stand on decentralised governance and trifurcation of the state capital, in light of the recent High Court verdict which ordered the development of Amaravati as the state capital within six months. Stating that the YSRCP government is taking legal advice on its future course of action, Jagan said, “We will also protect the interests of Amaravati farmers who gave their land. But on decentralisation, we won’t step back, no matter the obstacles, because it's the right path … Decentralisation is our policy, and decision on capitals is our right and responsibility.”
Jagan concluded a long discussion in the Assembly on Thursday, March 24, on the separation of powers between legislature, executive and judiciary in the wake of the High Court verdict on Amaravati. “The Constitution details the ambit of legislature, judiciary and executive. One should not transgress into the other’s domain, only then systems will function,” Jagan said. He called the recent High Court order and the timeline prescribed for the development of Amaravati impractical.
“Courts should not prescribe impossible timelines. Within one month, we’ve been asked to provide amenities like roads, drinking water, drainage, electricity at the cost of Rs 1 lakh crore. Within 6 months, we’ve been asked to spend Rs 5-6 lakh crore and build the capital. These are impossible timelines which no courts can dictate,” Jagan said, referring to the verdict. “Everything we said when we introduced the three capitals Bill, our government still stands by those words,” he added.
On the topic of discussion, Jagan said, “Why we are debating this today is to assert that policy making and law making is the domain of the legislature. Not the domain of the executive or the judiciary.” He said that the High Court’s recent verdict on the state capital questions the legislature’s authority, with the court exceeding the domain of the judiciary.
He also objected to the court’s verdict stating that the legislature has no authority to decide the location of the capital, and decentralisation of governance. He pointed out that the court order said, “We also hold that the Legislature has no legislative competence to to pass any resolution/law for change of capital or bifurcating or trifurcating the capital city,” and stated that apart from taking permission from Union government, there is nothing the state government can do in these matters.
“The High Court verdict is in contradiction with the federal spirit of the country and Legislature’s powers,” Jagan said, noting that the Union government itself has told the High Court that the decision of the state capital is completely up to the state government.
Jagan said that building a capital city like Hyderabad takes decades and even centuries of work and growth. He noted that the Amaravati master plan, which was notified by the previous TDP government in February 2016, mentions a timeline of 20 years, and an estimated cost of Rs 1.09 lakh crore for basic amenities.
“I love this region (Amaravati). That's why I built my house here. That's why I said the Legislature will continue here. But to spend Rs 1.09 lakh crore for basic amenities, even optimistically if it’ll take 20 years to build, it will end up costing Rs 15-20 lakh crores to develop basic infrastructure here. Is this practical?” he asked.
Stating that the TDP government itself spent Rs 5,000 crore between 2016 and 2019, he said that no government can spend more than that on a capital. “This is just a small part of the state’s governance. It’s the state government’s responsibility to spend on welfare and development in the rest of the state,” Jagan said.