Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday nullified all the decisions taken by chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s government to scrap the Capital Amaravati project and split the capital into three in the name of decentralization.
In a 307 page judgment, the bench headed by Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra categorically said the state and CRDA had not only failed in fulfilling the contractual obligations with regard to the agreement reached with the farmers to develop the capital, they also violated the constitutional provisions in trifurcating the capital.
The other members of the Bench are Justice M Satyanarayana Murthy and Justice DVSS Somayajulu.
Rajadhani Rythu Parirakshnana Samithi,
Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh is the petitioner while the State of Andhra Pradesh is the respondent.
Here are the highlights of the judgment :
The Legislature has no legislative competence to pass any resolution/law for a change of
capital or bifurcating or trifurcating the capital city.
The State Legislature lacks the competence to make any legislation for shifting,
bifurcating or trifurcating the capital and Heads of Departments of the three wings of the Government including the High Court to any area other than the Capital city notified under Section3 of
the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority Act, 2014 and the land pooled under the Andhra Pradesh Capital City Land Pooling Scheme (Formation and Implementation) Rules,
2015
Approval of passing of legislation i.e. APCRDA Act, 2014 and taking up the land under the Land
Pooling Scheme framed under the APCRDA Act, 2014, payment of Rs.15000 crores for the capital city and regional development is sufficient to conclude that the parliament delegated power to State under Article 258 (2) of the Constitution of India, which is a one-time delegation.
The inaction of the State and APCRDA as on the date of filing the writ petitions i.e. failure to develop the capital city and capital the region as agreed in terms of Form 9.14 Development Agreement-cum-Irrevocable General Power of Attorney is nothing but a deviation from the promise made by the State, defeating legitimate expectation
When the respondents – State and APCRDA failed to keep up their promise and are acting to defeat the
legitimate expectation of the petitioners, the Court can issue appropriate direction to the State and APCRDA, to comply with the terms of Development Agreement-cumIrrevocable General Power of Attorney in Form 9.14, APCRDA Act, Land Pooling Rules, 2015 while exercising extraordinary power under Article 226 of the
Constitution of India.
State and APCRDA violated the fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 and the right to property
under Article 300-A of the Constitution of India.
The Notified Master Plan cannot be modified suo motu. The State or APCRDA cannot exercise power suo motu to amend or vary Master Plan(s) with costs of Rs.50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousands only) each, payable by the respondents to the petitioners.
The State and APCRDA are directed not to alienate/mortgage or create any third party interest on the land pooled, except for the construction of the capital city or development of the capital region.
The State and APCRDA are directed to complete the process of development and infrastructure in the Amaravati Capital City and Region providing basic amenities like roads, drinking water,
drainage, electricity in terms of Section58 of APCRDA Act read with Rule 12(6) of Land Pooling Rules, 2015 within one month from the date of this order.
The State is directed to construct and develop Amaravati capital city and capital region within six months’ time, as agreed in the terms and conditions of Development Agreement-cumIrrevocable General Power of Attorney in Form 9.14, provisions of APCRDA Act and Land Pooling Rules, 2015.
The State and APCRDA shall develop the reconstituted plots belonging to landowners in the Amaravati capital region by providing approach roads, drinking water, electricity connection to each plot, drainage etc. to enable the same to be fit for habitation in the Amaravati Capital city.