Andhra Pradesh High Court to take on priority pleas against state's three-capitals move; daily hearings from 9 Oct

Amravati: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday said it would hear various petitions, filed against the governments move to have three capitals for the state and related issues, in an order of priority from 9 October. Turning down a state governments plea, the court said the status quo order, issued earlier on the two new laws related to the state capital, would continue. The bench headed by Chief Justice JK Maheshwari directed the government to submit in sealed covers the video discs and details of the deliberations in the Legislative Council over the two new capital legislations in January this year. It decided to conduct hearings daily on the bunch of over 290 petitions related to the capital issue, after dividing them into 12 categories. On 31 July, the state government notified the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act, 2020, and the AP Capital Region Development Authority (Repeal) Act, 2020, immediately after Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan gave his assent to the related bills passed by the Assembly. The laws give shape to the YSR Congress government’s plan of having three capitals for the state – executive in Visakhapatnam, Legislative in Amaravati and judicial capital in Kurnool. The court had on 4 August ordered status quo on the acts.