Don't Stall Probe Into Amaravati Land Scam; Agreeable To CBI Investigation Under Court-Monitoring, AP Govt Tells SC

The State of Andhra Pradesh on Friday urged the Supreme Court to lift the stay imposed by the AP High Court on the probe into the Amaravati land scam case.

Senior Advocate Dr Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for the State Government, submitted that the government was agreeable to a court-monitored investigation even by the CBI.

"We agree to no coercive action against the accused. We agree to court-monitoring of the investigation. We also welcome a CBI investigation under the monitoring of the court. But let the investigation continue", Dhavan submitted.

Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, also appearing for the AP Government in a connected petition, supported Dhavan and urged the bench to vacate the stay put by the High Court.

A division bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan and R Subhash Reddy expressed difficulty in considering the matter today. The bench agreed to hear the petitions on March 7.

 The issue relates to the Special Investigation Team probe ordered by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government into allegations of large scale scam through the sale of lands near Amaravati, in anticipation of the establishment of new state capital there after the bifurcation of the Andhra Pradesh in 2014. The FIR names several high profile individuals as accused, including the former Advocate General Dammalapati Srinivas and relatives of Supreme Court judge Justice N V Ramana.

On September 15 last year, the then Chief Justice J K Maheshwari of the High Court had stayed the SIT probe acting on a petition filed by the former AG Dammalapati Srinivas. The High Court also passed a gag order against media reportage and social media discussions on the contents of the FIR.

In November last year, the Supreme Court had issued notice on the petition filed by the State of AP against the High Court's interim order. The Supreme Court also vacated the gag order passed by the High Court.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh had sent a letter to the Chief Justice of India complaining that the High Court was trying to destabilize his government by acting in connivance with the opposition, Telugu Desom Party. The CM also alleged that Justice Ramana was trying to influence some High Court judges to pass orders against his government.

Last December, the Chief Justice of AP High Court, JK Maheshwari was transferred to the Sikkim High Court and the former CJ of Sikkim High Court, Justice AK Goswami was appointed as the CJ of AP High Court.