Amaravati Land Scam Case: Andhra Govt's Plea Against HC Order Staying SIT Probe- Live Updates From Supreme Court

Dhavan : Except for using terms like 'gestapo police', 'utter disregard of constitution' etc against the govt, there are no specific facts pleaded in the writ petition.

Dhavan : There was no factual pleading on mala fides in the writ petition.

Dhavan : Is there something extraordinarily special about this petition that such orders had to be passed?

Dhavan : The media gag order goes against settled principles of Sahara judgment.

Dhavan : That is the only issue if such an interim order be passed. One judge had recused from hearing and the Chief Justice sets himself the bench at 5.30 on that day to pass the order.

Dhavan : The writ petition was filed a few days after inquiry was ordered. It was decided on the same day it was filed.

J Bhushan : Only interim order was passed.

Dhavan : The question is can such an interim order be passed?

J Bhushan : That is a different issue.

Dhavan : The SIT probe was not a knee-jerk reaction. There were reports of sub-committee of cabinet on the land scam. A letter was sent to Union seeking CBI inquiry.

Dhavan : I do not want to name the people involved in the scam. Your lordships might be aware about them from public domain.

Dhavan : The scam was that even before the new capital at Amaravati was announced in 2015, there was mass land pool sharing during the period of 6 months before by benamidars of people involved.

Dhavan reads out the prayer clauses in the writ petition and submits - The prayer was only confined to the petitioner(former AG). There were 13 persons named in the FIR. The HC order goes beyond the reliefs sought for.