Panel to identify the new capital for Seemandhra

Centre will soon appoint a panel to identify the new capital for Seemandhra.
"It will be a five-member committee, multi-disciplinary committee, which will have experts and administrators who will look at alternatives and make appropriate recommendations for the location of the new capital," Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said after a meeting of GoM on Telangana.
The committee will be given six months' time to identify the new capital, he told reporters.
He said that early next week, this committee will be appointed. "Its Terms of Reference has been finalised. We are discussing who should be on the committee and in the next couple of days it will be notified," the Minister said.

The two new states - Telangana with 10 districts and Andhra Pradesh with 13 districts - will come into being on June 2. Hyderabad will be the capital of Telangana.
As the appointed day is on June 2, the GoM had a review on all the preparations that has to be done, Ramesh said.

The focus of the GoM today was to accelerate the process of decision making.
A lot of action has to be taken by the Ministry of Water Resources, Finance Ministry and HRD.
"In the case of the Ministry of Water Resources, an additional reference has to be made to the Brajesh Kumar tribunal and steps have to be taken to select the people for the Krishna River Board and the Godavari River Board," he said.

He said that GoM also discussed the issue of high court.
Noting that the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act says that there will be a common High Court till such a time a new High Court is set up for the successor state of Andhra Pradesh, Ramesh said Government of India's policy is that the two high courts should become functional very soon.
"We want the two high courts to be functional very soon," he said.
Citing the provisions in the Constitution, he said it is the Chief Justice of Supreme Court who will initiate the process.
"The Central government has requested the state government, chief secretary and governor to take the process forward," Ramesh added.