Vijayawada: The support of Centre and Supreme Court is a must for Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to realise his dream of having three capitals.
As per the AP Reorganisation Act 2014, Hyderabad will remain join capital for 10 years and notification of new capital requires amendment to the Act for legal sustainability of the decision, according to a senior central official who was actively involved in the drafting of the Reorganisation Act.
Sources said the Centre so far hasn’t notified new capital for Andhra Pradesh and the recent exclusion of Amaravati as state capital in the revised India map is part of the procedure followed by the Central authorities as per the Reorganisation Act. Though Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy tweeted a rectified map following the TD members representing the matter, official sources said no official gazette notifying Amaravati has come from the Centre so far.
A senior official involved in law making process told Deccan Chronicle that notification was held back due to technical and legal issues. The Reorganisation Act is bit vague on the process to be followed by Andhra Pradesh to have a new capital within 10 year period. But, as per the Act, it is the Centre’s responsibility to initiate process of setting up new capital for the residuary state besides extending financial support for developing core buildings like secretariat and assembly besides civic infrastructure.
The former chief minister lobbied with the Centre to have his way in deciding Amaravati as capital but he too did not notify apparently to not lose the combined capital status of Hyderabad till 2024.
On the judiciary front, The Supreme Court is the final authority in locating the high courts and after a prolonged process, it okayed High Court in Amaravati and almost five years after bifurcation, the new high court started functioning from Amaravati. Despite severe agitations by the Telangana government as well as advocates on dividing the High court, the Supreme Court did not move till its satisfied with the location as well as the infrastructure created. “Assuming that Chief Minister has his way, it would take at least another 4-5 years to realise his dreams,” sources pointed out.
