AP High Court Disposes of 3-Capitals Plea After Amaravati Gets Recognition
Remaining Amaravati cases deferred as Supreme Court prepares to take up appeals linked to landmark 2022 judgment
AMARAVATI: The Andhra Pradesh High Court has disposed of petitions challenging the previous YSRCP government's three-capitals proposal after Parliament accorded statutory recognition to Amaravati as the capital of Andhra Pradesh, significantly narrowing the long-running litigation over the state's capital.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Lisa Gill, and comprising Justices N. Jayasurya and B.S. Bhanumathi, took the decision on September 25 while hearing a batch of petitions relating to Amaravati.
The bench observed that petitions directed against the previous government's proposal for three capitals had become infructuous following the subsequent statutory recognition of Amaravati.
The court also asked lawyers representing the petitioners and the state government to identify other pending cases that may no longer require adjudication because of the changed legal position. The remaining petitions could then be segregated according to the issues they raise, the bench said.
The development removes from active consideration a significant portion of the litigation generated by the former Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government's attempt to replace the Amaravati-focused capital model with a decentralised three-capitals arrangement.
It does not, however, bring all Amaravati litigation to an end.
Supreme Court hearing becomes next focus
The High Court deferred consideration of other petitions after being informed that appeals arising from its landmark March 3, 2022 Amaravati judgment were tentatively listed before the Supreme Court for September 29.
The appeals were filed by the previous Andhra Pradesh government challenging the High Court judgment on Amaravati.
The Supreme Court had earlier stayed the timelines imposed by the High Court for completion of infrastructure and development works.
With those appeals still pending, the High Court indicated that it could not issue fresh time-bound directions covering matters already affected by the Supreme Court proceedings. It therefore deferred the remaining cases pending clarity on the appeals.
That makes the Supreme Court proceedings the next significant legal development in the Amaravati dispute.
What happened to the three-capitals cases?
The litigation dates to the previous YSRCP government's attempt to restructure Andhra Pradesh's capital arrangement.
Its decentralisation plan envisaged three capitals, with Visakhapatnam as the executive capital, Amaravati as the legislative capital and Kurnool as the judicial capital.
Farmers who had surrendered land for Amaravati and other petitioners challenged the APCRDA Repeal Act and the decentralisation legislation before the High Court.
The High Court delivered a major judgment on March 3, 2022, directing the state and the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority to proceed with development of Amaravati and fulfil obligations arising from the land-pooling arrangements with farmers.
The judgment also prescribed timelines for development work, infrastructure and return of developed plots to farmers.
The then YSRCP government challenged that ruling in the Supreme Court.
The legal circumstances have since changed substantially.
The TDP-led alliance returned to power in 2024 under Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and resumed development of Amaravati. Parliament subsequently gave statutory recognition to Amaravati as Andhra Pradesh's capital.
It was that later statutory change that prompted the High Court on September 25 to treat petitions specifically challenging the three-capitals proposal as having lost their practical purpose.
Farmers raise issue of developed plots
Questions involving Amaravati farmers have not necessarily disappeared with the three-capitals petitions.
During the latest hearing, senior counsel Unnam Muralidhar Rao, representing petitioners, told the High Court that developed plots had still not been handed over to some farmers who surrendered their land under the Land Pooling Scheme and sought a timeframe for doing so.
The bench pointed to the Supreme Court's intervention in the timelines contained in the 2022 judgment.
Muralidhar Rao argued that the Supreme Court stay concerned timelines for infrastructure projects and did not eliminate the government's contractual obligation to return developed plots to farmers.
The issue illustrates the distinction between two strands of the Amaravati litigation.
The political and statutory dispute over whether Andhra Pradesh should have three capitals has been overtaken by subsequent developments. Questions concerning implementation of commitments to farmers and aspects of the 2022 High Court judgment, however, remain tied to pending litigation.
Government says Amaravati works progressing
Advocate General Dammalapati Srinivas told the High Court that infrastructure and development works in the Amaravati capital region were progressing rapidly.
He also informed the bench that the state had filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court on December 10, 2024, undertaking to complete infrastructure projects within three years.
After lawyers informed the High Court that the appeals were tentatively listed before the Supreme Court for September 29, the bench deferred consideration of the remaining petitions.
The September 25 order therefore marks an important legal transition in the Amaravati dispute: litigation aimed specifically at stopping the previous government's three-capitals proposal is being cleared from the docket following Amaravati's statutory recognition, while disputes connected to the 2022 judgment and obligations arising from the capital's development have not necessarily ended.
Attention now shifts to the Supreme Court and the pending appeals arising from the 2022 Amaravati judgment.
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