When there’s no word ‘capital’, why this bill?

Has the YSRC government led by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy faltered in introducing the bill on three capitals in the name of decentralisation in the state assembly?

In fact, Jagan himself has indirectly admitted the same in the assembly when he said there is no word “capital” in the constitution and what is there is just “seat of administration.”

He went on to say that wherever the chief minister functions, it will be the capital or seat of administration.

He even quoted two examples: one, his predecessor and Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu had run the administration from Visakhapatnam during Hudhud cyclone; and two, former chief minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa, too, had operated her government from Ooty in the past.

What he said is absolutely true. The state government has absolute powers to run the administration from wherever it is convenient for it. If the chief minister decides to shift his base from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam, nothing would prevent him from doing so.

Legal experts say it is an administrative decision and it can be implemented through just an executive order. There is no need to introduce a bill in the assembly for the same and make a mess of the entire exercise, leading to agitations and legal complications.

“What Jagan could have done was to issue an order, saying he is shifting his functioning from Visakhapatnam without making explicit that the administrative capital is being shifted from Amaravati. If CM functions form Vizag, the administration will automatically go there,” a legal expert said.

So, when Jagan himself says there is no word “capital” in the constitution, where was the need for him to introduce a bill that says three capitals would be created? It is now unnecessarily being dragged to the court!