SC notice on Andhra government's appeal against staying probe in alleged Amaravati land scam
Nov 05, 2020
New Delhi [India], November 5 : The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Varla Ramaiah on an appeal filed by Andhra Pradesh government challenging a High Court order staying the government orders relating to the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged Amaravati land scam.
A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan sought a response from Ramaiah and posted the matter for hearing after four weeks.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the Andhra government, submitted that the High Court order is extraordinary as it stops the entire investigation into allegations of fraudulent practices and abuse of power.
Dave cited the report by the sub-committee, on the basis of which an SIT was constituted. "It is impossible for a High Court to interfere at a pre-investigation stage and stay all proceedings," Dave said.
The counsel argued that there is no malafide by the state government and it is apparent by the fact that the Andhra Pradesh government wrote to the Central government for referring the probe into Amaravati land deals to the CBI and the Centre is yet to respond.
During the hearing, the bench asked Dave if Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy government has decided to review all decisions of the previous TDP government, to this Dave replied, "Not at all. Only those cases where gross illegalities are found".
The Andhra Pradesh High Court had on September 15 stayed the investigation and issued an injunction restraining any media reporting in the issue after the FIR registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau alleging corruption and illegal land transactions in relation to the shift of the capital to Amaravti following the bifurcation of the state in 2014.
The High Court had said that news in regard to the registration of the FIR or in the context of the FIR not to be made public in any electronic, print or social media.
