SC stays Andhra HC media gag order in Amaravati land scam

New Delhi, Nov 25 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Andhra Pradesh High Court order gagging the media from reporting an FIR registered by police in Amaravati land case issue allegedly involving a former advocate general and daughters of a senior Supreme Court judge.

A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan and comprising Justices R. Subhash Reddy and M.R. Shah also requested the High Court not to decide the former Advocate General Dammalapati Srinivas and others finally, before the top court adjudicates the matter. The top court came on the plea of the Andhra Pradesh government challenging the High Court interim order passed on September 15.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, representing the Andhra Pradesh government, described the High Court order as unprecedented and argued that such an interim order should not have been passed at all. Dhavan also cited certain facts about the scam to show various transactions allegedly involving the former advocate general and others. "Should such a complaint be investigated or not? This is the simplest question here", submitted Dhavan. The top court said it is satisfied that the matter requires consideration.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the former advocate general, submitted that his client had appeared in many criminal cases pending against the present Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, and insisted the government wanted to destroy the reputation of his client. He added that the state government has targeted his client and its conduct reeks of mala fide.

Dhavan rebutted, how can an investigation be stopped at the threshold? The complaint was dated September 7, an inquiry took place and then the FIR was filed. He added the other parties moved the High Court prematurely. After a detailed hearing in the matter, the bench posted the matter for further hearing in the last week of January.