CJI Lalit recuses from hearing Andhra Pradesh's 3 capitals issue
Nov 01, 2022
New Delhi [India], November 1 : Chief Justice of India UU Lalit on Tuesday recused himself from hearing an appeal of the Andhra Pradesh government challenging the judgment of the High Court declaring Amaravati as the only capital of the State.
As the matter came up for hearing, a bench of CJI and Justice Bela M Trivedi was told that Justice Lalit, as an advocate, had once given a legal opinion on the issue related to the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
To this, CJI Lalit said, "Let the matter be listed before a bench to which I am not a member".
The YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government had decided to make three capitals in different cities of the State in order to ensure development in all parts of the state.
Challenging the March 3 order of the High Court, the Andhra Pradesh government approached the top court saying the issue had become infructuous since the impugned legislation had been repealed.
The appeal stated that under the federal structure of the Constitution, every State has an inherent right to determine where it should carry out its capital functions.
"To hold that State does not have the power to decide on its capital is violative of the basic structure of the Constitution," the appeal has added.
The judgement of the High Court is violative of doctrine of 'separation of powers' since it preempts the legislature from taking up the issue, it added.
The High Court in its order on March 3 had directed that the State government should construct and develop Amaravati's capital city and region within six months.
The High Court had ruled that the State legislature "lacked competence" to make any legislation for shifting, bifurcating or trifurcating the capital.
It had held that the State government and the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority violated the petitioners' fundamental rights (farmers who parted with their land) and directed that the State construct and develop Amaravati's capital city and capital region within six months.
The High Court verdict had come on a batch of 63 petitions filed by aggrieved farmers of the Amaravati region against the Jagan regime's decision to make Visakhapatnam the Executive Capital, Kurnool the Judiciary Capital and confining Amaravati as the Legislative Capital of Andhra Pradesh.
