Hyderabad: The CBI?alleged before the AP High Court that IAS officer K. Ratna Prabha, the then IT?secretary, and former home minister Sabita Indra Reddy had misled the Cabinet and fraudulently obtained its consent to favour to Indu Tech Park.
Justice V. Suri Appa Rao was hearing a petition filed by Ratna Prabha seeking to quash the criminal proceedings against her in the illegal investments case of YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
P. Wilson, additional solicitor general of India, said the fraud committed by the petitioner can be seen in the depositions of several IAS officers, including former chief secretary T.K. Diwan.
He said that Diwan had told the CBI that Ratna Prabha bypassed him and went to the Cabinet with a memorandum that was silent on safeguards to be taken by the government if the project was not commissioned.
There was no competitive bidding; applications were received from private firms and Indu Projects was entrusted with the job of building a software park at Shamshabad and 250 acre was given at a low rate of Rs 20 lakh per acre despite objections from the finance and revenue departments.
Wilson told the court that Indu Projects did not possess the qualifications to bag the project.
Referring to the depositions, the ASG said the circulation of the note file was interrupted by Ratna Prabha who chose to approve the proposal in her capacity as chairperson of the consultative committee on Information Technology and Communications.
Diwan deposed that she prepared a draft memorandum meant for Cabinet approval and took it to the then minister Sabita Indra Reddy and chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy on April 26, 2006.
The judge posted the matter to January 2.
FFA files PIL against CM
The Federation of Farmers Association of Nellore filed a PIL?against the Rs 7,390-crore drinking water supply project at Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy’s native district of Chittoor.
The association told the court that Kandaleru reservoir, from where water was to be drawn, was 55 metres above sea level, against 305 metres of Chittoor.
The project would involve construction of several pump houses requiring huge amounts of electricity.
