A Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court led by Chief Justice Lisa Gill said on September 25 that more than 120 petitions against the proposed three-capitals plan had become infructuous. Parliament’s amendment to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 gives Amaravati legal status as the state’s sole capital, changing the legal basis on which the petitions were filed.
The court said any cases that remain pending would be examined on November 20. The Bench took note that appeals against the High Court’s March 3, 2022 Amaravati judgment may be heard by the Supreme Court on November 29. In that earlier ruling, a three-judge High Court Bench held that the state lacked legislative authority to reverse the capital decision taken in 2014–15.
The dispute grew out of a plan announced by then Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in December 2019 to develop Amaravati, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool as the legislative, executive and judicial capitals. The proposal prompted protests, particularly from farmers who had contributed land to the Land Pooling Scheme for Amaravati.
State Advocate General Dammalapati Srinivas told the Bench that the government had informed the Supreme Court in a December 2024 affidavit that infrastructure projects in Amaravati would be completed within three years, and that work was progressing. Some petitioners argued that the state should withdraw the special leave petitions filed by the previous YSR Congress government against the High Court ruling. A senior advocate also sought time-bound allotment of developed plots to land-pooling beneficiaries.