Andhra Pradesh Assembly Moves to Repeal Three-Capital Law

 

The Act was challenged by farmers of the Amaravati region and the matter is being heard in the high court. Protests against the move have continued for over two years now.

Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. Photo: Facebook 

New Delhi: The Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly on Monday, November 22, passed a Bill to repeal the controversial AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act, 2020, that was intended to establish three capitals for the state.

Reports have said that the Andhra Pradesh Advocate General Subrahmanyam Sriram informed the high court about the decision as well.

The earlier Chandrababu Naidu government in Andhra Pradesh had put forward a proposal to develop Amaravati as the state capital, which the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government had stalled, instead announcing that the government would have three capitals – an executive capital in Visakhapatnam, a legislative capital in Amaravati and a judicial capital in Kurnool.

The Act was challenged by farmers of the Amaravati region and the matter is being heard now in the high court. Protests against the move have continued for over two years now.

Also read | Andhra Pradesh: What Explains Jagan’s Decision to Have Three Capitals

LiveLaw has reported that in earlier hearings, senior advocate Shyam Divan had argued on behalf of farmers that around 33,000 households in Amaravati “had given up their land for capital development” and were left with no sustainable means of livelihood.

Divan had also argued that the power to delineate a capital city belongs to the parliament under Article 3 and 4 of the constitution.

The now-repealed Bill had provided for dividing the state into various zones and establishing zonal planning and development boards. The village and (municipal) ward secretariats system that the government brought in October last year now gets statutory backing as it had been made part of the Bill, passed early this year amidst fervent protests.

The Decentralisation Act brought by the Jagan government had also been blocked in the upper house of the state legislature by Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party and referred to a select committee for scrutiny. The lower house of the assembly then passed a  resolution urging the Union government to abolish the upper house, The News Minute has reported.

“Our intention of a decentralised development of the state has been twisted, distorted and a misinformation launched. Also, legal hurdles were created and court cases filed,” CM Jagan alleged, without mentioning the challenge to the Act in the court.

Jagan said the government would explain its “genuine intention and the need for decentralisation” to all concerned and incorporate necessary changes in a new Bill.

Jagan added that the new Bill will be “comprehensive, complete and better”.

The Jagan government’s move to rollback a law protested against heavily by especially farmers comes three days after the Union government announced the decision to repeal the three controversial farm laws after yearlong protests against them at Delhi’s borders.

(With PTI inputs)