The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday passed interim orders against moving of the Secretariat and other head offices out of Amaravati. The court observed that since the Bill repealing Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) Act and the Bill to have three capitals were still being reviewed by the Upper House, the court will not make any decision on it.
The court cautioned that if the government proceeds with shifting of the offices before the issue gets resolved in the council, government officers will have to bear the expenses from their own personal money. Further, the hearing was adjourned for Sunday.
On Thursday, the bench comprising Chief Justice Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari and justice Akula Venkata Sesha Sai were hearing the petitions challenging the two Bills passed by the Assembly paving way for developing three capitals - Amaravati, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool as part of the government's “decentralized development" policy.
On Wednesday, two Public Interest Litigations (PILs) were filed in the Court against the government’s decision.
Amidst protests, the Andhra Pradesh government earlier this week passed two Bills-- one to repeal Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) Act, 2014 and Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill 2020 to facilitate the shifting of key capital functions from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam and Kurnool.
However, the government suffered a setback on Wednesday after the council adopted the resolution moved by main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) disapproving the government's policies.
The resolution moved under Rule 71 was approved by the Upper House with 27 members voting in favour of it and 13 members voting against it. Nine members abstained from voting. Though four opposition members including two of the TDP resorted to cross-voting, the resolution was still adopted, and the Bills were sent to the Select Committee for reviewing.