BREAKING : Supreme Court Dismisses Andhra CM's Complaint Against Justice Ramana After Confidential In-House Enquiry

LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK

24 March 2021 3:42 PM IST

  • BREAKING : Supreme Court Dismisses Andhra CMs Complaint Against Justice Ramana After Confidential In-House Enquiry

    In a significant development, the Supreme Court has dismissed the complaint made by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Jagan Mohan Reddy to the Chief Justice of India that Justice NV Ramana was trying to influence the state judiciary to destabilize the state government.The information regarding the dismissal of the complaint was given in a statement published in the Supreme Court website.As...

    In a significant development, the Supreme Court has dismissed the complaint made by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Jagan Mohan Reddy to the Chief Justice of India that Justice NV Ramana was trying to influence the state judiciary to destabilize the state government.

    The information regarding the dismissal of the complaint was given in a statement published in the Supreme Court website.

    As per the statement, the complaint was dismissed "on due consideration" after being dealt with under the in-house procedure.

    "It be noted that all matters dealt with under the in-house procedure being strictly confidential in nature, are not liable to be made public", the statement further added.

    Notably, CJI Bobde today recommended Justice NV Ramana as his successor Chief Justice of India. CJI Bobde is demitting office on April 24.

    It was on October 6 last year that the Andhra Chief Minister sent the complaint to the Chief Justice of India. Few days later, the details of the complaint were made public in a press conference held by the Chief Minister's Secretary Ajeya Chellam IAS.


    What was said in the complaint?

    The Andhra CM's complaint alleged that Justice N V Ramana was influencing the judges of Andhra Pradesh High Court in "politically sensitive" matters for passing adverse orders against the state government.

    The Chief Minister narrated a series of cases in which the HC passed adverse orders against major decisions taken by his government, such as the move to enquire into corruption allegations behind major land deals during the TDP-regime, the three capital bills, stay on SIT enquiry in Amaravati land scam etc.

    Citing these orders, which were stated to be benefiting politicians belonging to TDP, the Andhra CM claimed that there was bias in the State Judiciary towards the TDP.

    "In my respectful view, the subject matter may be looked into by your esteemed goodselves to consider initiating such steps as may be considered fit and proper, to ensure that the State Judiciary's neutrality is maintained. Further material if any, corroborative of the above contents and the enclosed annexures, shall be made available by me to your esteemed institution to substantiate the above", the CM urged the CJI in the letter which enclosed with it the controversial orders passed by the HC, details of land holdings and assets of Justice Ramana etc.
    The FIR lodged in the Amaravati land scam had named some of the family members of Justice Ramana as the accused.
    Following the publication of the complaint, a petition was filed before the Attorney General seeking consent to initiate contempt action against the Andhra CM.
    Though the AG declined consent, he opined that the conduct of the Andhra CM and his advisor was "prima facie contumacious". However, as the Chief Justice of India is "seized of the matter" it would not be appropriate for him to deal with the same, he said.
    The AG also said that the timing of the complaint and the press conference "could certainly be said to be suspect" as it followed an order passed by a bench headed by Justice Ramana to speed up the trial of criminal cases against MPs/MLAs.

    Jagan himself is facing 31 criminal cases, including 11 cases registered by the CBI and 7 cases registered by the Enforcement Directorate over allegations of corruption and amassing disproportionate wealth.

    Click here to read/download the statement






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