Andhra Pradesh Minister Botsa Satyanarayana questions constitutionality of High Court orders
Sep 17, 2020
Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) [India], September 17 : In the wake of two orders issued by the Andhra Pradesh High Court, State Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister Botsa Satyanarayana on Thursday questioned the same on constitutional grounds.
The AP High Court has issued two orders on Wednesday. In one order, the HC gagged the media from reporting anything related to an FIR against high profile persons, further went to place a stay on all the investigative proceedings in the matter.
The second order went onto place a stay on all proceedings pertaining to the various scams being investigated by the SIT which was constituted by the state government to probe the alleged irregularities committed during the TDP regime.
"The Amaravati land scam which happens to be at least 4,000-acre scam and the APFSL scam which was executed under the direct supervision of Nara Lokesh are two major, multi-hundred crore scams that the SIT was investigating. This order in a way, struck down a resolution passed by the AP legislative assembly, based on which the SIT was set up, thereby making in unconstitutional and against the basic tenets of autonomy of the legislature," Satyanarayana said in a press conference.
"We immensely respect the Judiciary. We do not intend to insult or defame anybody but it is our job to ensure that the truth reaches the citizens. We have not resorted to saying or doing anything unconstitutional," he added.
Satyanarayana further went onto question the urgency shown by the court in issuing a gag order, barring media from reporting anything related to the case against high profile persons.
He said, "Gag orders were not issued even when sitting CJI's Ranjan Gogoi and Dipak Mishra faced certain allegations. All this needs to be considered. There have been tweets from prominent journalists, associations of journalists and even people for the legal fraternity, questioning whether there is a different law for these accused when compared to a common man."
Satyanarayana further questioned "After seeing the widespread outrage, spread across the nation, we wanted to come out and clarify. Only an FIR has been lodged, thousand of FIRs get lodged every day, what is scaring them? Why has an FIR startled them so much?"
"The court stayed all proceedings pertaining to the probe by the Cabinet-Sub Committee as well. Constituting a Cabinet Sub-Committee, deciding on its duration and powers is a legislative privilege given to the assembly by the constitution of the country. How can the courts intervene and issue a stay? Why a stay into the probes into scams?" he added.
