Ex-High Court judges challenge AP Capital Region Development Authority Act
Hyderabad: Two former judges of the AP High Court and a veteran journalist and a senior advocate have moved the Hyderabad HC challenging the constitutional validity of the AP Capital Region Development Authority Act, 2014, (the CRDA Act).
Justice A. Gopala Rao, Justice P. Lakshmana Reddy, journalist A.B.K. Prasad and advocate C. Sadasiva Reddy filed the PIL asking the court to declare the CRDA Act that came into force from December 30, 2014 as unconstitutional and ultra vires of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.
The petitioners contended that as per Section 6 of the AP Reorganisation Act it was clear that the responsibility of identifying the AP capital was taken over by the Centre and no option was given to the successor state of AP to identify its new capital as was done in the case of Telangana where Hyderabad was declared as capital.
They brought to the notice of the court that an expert committee constituted by the Centre regarding the new capital for AP, headed by retired IAS officer K.C. Sivaramakri-shnan, had suggested that while constructing the new capital the government should cause only the least possible dislocation to agriculture and minimal resettlement of people.
The committee also suggested taking up a vulnerability assessment from natural disasters like floods, cyclones and earthquakes and assessing the scope for minimising the cost of construction and acquisition of land for the new capital.
The petitioners told the court that the observations of the expert committee made it clear that it was not in favour of locating the AP capital in the Vijayawada-Guntur-Tenali-Mangalagiri (VGTM) zone and that the thrust is towards development of AP as a whole by distributing departments all over.
They said the AP government is going ahead at jet speed to acquire a huge area of around 7,068 sq. km in the VGTM area for the new capital city without any authorisation from the Centre as mandated by Section 6 of the Reorganisation Act.
Maintaining that the area which is identified for the new capital is having rich potential for agriculture the petitioners said any attempt to convert farmland for non-agricultural use will displace farm labourers rendering them unemployed. It will also destroy agricultural land and farmers and benefit only real estate operators.
