Supreme Court Sets Aside Andhra Pradesh High Court Stay On SIT Probe Into Amaravati Land Scam
The Supreme Court directed the high court to finally dispose of the matter within three months.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside the Andhra Pradesh High Court order staying a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the allegations of a land scam in Amaravati during the previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) regime.
A bench comprising justices M.R. Shah and M.M. Sundresh said, "We are prima facie of the opinion that some of the reasoning given by the high court while staying further proceedings according to the two government orders (GOs) may not be germane, more particularly, when the high court has observed that the new government cannot be permitted to overturn the decisions of the previous government."
The top court said, "In our view, the high court ought not to have granted an interim stay when it was not required as the entire matter is at a prematurely nascent stage. The central government is yet to take a call on the letter and the consent given by the first petitioner (now appellant). It would have been better had the high court permitted the parties to complete the pleadings, and thereafter decided the writ petitions one way or the other by affording ample opportunity to the parties before it."
The Supreme Court asked the high court to finally dispose of the matter within a period of three months and directed it to add the Union of India as a respondent and take its views on the issue.
The top court also accepted the state's contention that the high court has misinterpreted and/or misconstrued the two GOs and treated and/or considered them the same as overturning the decisions of the previous government.
"If the aforesaid two GOs are considered, it can be seen that the same cannot be said to be overturning the earlier decisions taken by the previous government and/or reviewing the decisions taken by the previous government. The sub-committee and the SIT have been constituted to inquire into the allegations of acts of corruption and misfeasance by the previous government," the bench noted.
The top court said the high court ignored that the state government had requested the central government in a letter dated March 23, 2020, to refer the matter to the CBI, followed by the consent given on July 13, 2020.
Through a government order (GO) of September 26, 2019, the YSRCP government appointed a Cabinet Sub Committee to examine the allegations of corruption levelled against members of the erstwhile TDP government. On December 27, 2019, the committee submitted an interim report recording prima facie findings about certain allegations.
Based on the report, the state government issued a second GO and constituted a SIT, headed by a Deputy Inspector General of Police-rank IPS officer, to investigate the various alleged irregularities, particularly the land deals in the Amaravati Capital Region, during the Chandrababu Naidu regime.
The high court had stayed both notifications, after which the state government filed an appeal before the Supreme Court challenging the high court order.
In September 2020, the high court, by a separate order, had rejected the state government's plea to make the Union government and the Enforcement Directorate parties to the proceedings.
(With IANS inputs)
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