Andhra Pradesh High Court begins fresh hearing of ‘three capitals’ case

Plea for recusal of two judges turned down.

A division Bench (DB) of the Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) High Court headed by Chief Justice (CJ) Prashant Kumar Mishra and comprising Justices M. Satyanarayana Murthy and D. V. S. S. Somayajulu began a fresh hearing of the batch of writ petitions that challenged the A. P. Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions and CRDA Repeal Acts of 2020, on Monday after a gap of nearly three months.

Presenting the arguments on behalf of Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi, senior advocate Shyam Divan said what is supposed to be a ‘throbbing capital’ had been completely emasculated in terms of the lost value of the reconstituted plots.

He observed that there would be a cyclical change of governments but the State remains constant, implying that such controversial proposals as the ‘three capitals’ would have serious consequences for the entire country as at stake was the fundamental issue of governance which ought to be a continuous process, and the constitutional assurances on the basis of which Amaravati farmers took an informed decision to give their arable lands for the construction of the capital city of Andhra Pradesh.