Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act 2020

The Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act, 2020 is a state legislation that restructured the geography of governance in Andhra Pradesh by formally distributing the headquarters of its three branches of state government—executive, legislative, and judicial—across three geographically distinct cities. Enacted on 28 December 2020, the law designates Visakhapatnam as the seat of the executive capital, Amaravati as the legislative capital, and Kurnool as the judicial capital, each supplemented by a surrounding "capital region" spanning roughly 7,000–8,000 square kilometres. Its core premise is that concentrating the state apparatus in a single city perpetuates regional inequality, and that dispersing institutions can simultaneously decongest existing hubs while catalysing development in underserved Rayalaseema and north-coastal districts. ## Origins and Political Background The Act emerged from the turbulent aftermath of Andhra Pradesh's bifurcation in 2014, when the combined state was split into residuary Andhra Pradesh and a separate Telangana. The original state capital, Hyderabad, fell within Telangana's borders, forcing Andhra Pradesh to build an entirely new capital from scratch on agricultural land near the village of Thulluru in Guntur district. This location, christened Amaravati, lay in the fertile Krishna river delta and was the centre of an ambitious riverfront city plan championed by then Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. The project's land-pooling scheme acquired around 33,000 acres from farmers and was billed as a people-driven, capital-region metropolis. Political turmoil followed: Naidu's Telugu Desam Party lost the 2019 elections to the YSR Congress Party led by Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who questioned Amaravati's viability on grounds of cost, environmental stress on the delta, and geographic imbalance. Within months of taking office, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government constituted an expert committee under former bureaucrat G. N. Rao to recommend a decentralised capital model. The committee's June 2020 report concluded that a single-capital setup would leave the Rayalaseema and north-coastal regions structurally underdeveloped, and recommended a three-capital arrangement—a recommendation the government operationalised through the December 2020 Act. ## Key Provisions The Act defines three capital regions through precise Schedule-bound boundaries: the Executive Capital Region around Visakhapatnam on the northern coast; the Legislative Capital Region centred on Amaravati; and the Judicial Capital Region around Kurnool in the Rayalaseema interior. Section 4(1) empowers the state government to notify any area within these regions for infrastructure development and to acquire land under the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, read with the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency provisions. Crucially, the Act does not abolish Amaravati—it preserves the Amaravati Capital Region Development Authority and the Amaravati Metropolitan Region Development Authority, both originally constituted in 2015 and 2018 respectively, to continue planning in the existing capital footprint. Highlighting the unusual nature of the model, the law explicitly states that the three capitals are not intended as equal, full-fledged administrative cities but as specialised hubs serving distinct constitutional functions. Provisions in Chapter III allow the Governor, the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers to operate from the executive capital; the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council (the latter being the upper house proposed for revival under the Act) are to function from the legislative capital; and the High Court of Andhra Pradesh is mandated to shift from its interim location in Amaravati to Kurnool, with associated subordinate judicial infrastructure. ## Controversies and Constitutional Questions The Act has been a lightning rod for legal and political dispute. Amaravati farmers, whose pooled lands remain undeveloped, approached the Andhra Pradesh High Court arguing the legislation breached their land-pooling agreements and amounted to retrospective acquisition without compensation. Farmers' associations also challenged the law before the Supreme Court, contending that dismantling a capital mid-construction violated constitutional protections and Article 14 (equality) guarantees. Opponents of the YSR Congress government accused it of deliberately sabotaging Amaravati to punish its predecessor's flagship project, while the government maintained the three-capital model was fiscally prudent and regionally equitable. ## Current Status Implementation has moved slowly. Visakhapatnam already hosts several state corporations and directorates, and Amaravati continues as the de facto seat of the Assembly and the High Court pending judicial review. Kurnool's High Court complex, planned on about 200 acres, awaits foundation laying, while the Rayalaseema region has seen renewed investor interest in land around