New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to interfere with an order passed by the Hyderabad High Court quashing charges framed by the CBI against IAS officer Ratna Prabha in YSR Congress president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s illegal investments case relating to land allocation to Indu Techzone.
A bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice A.K. Sikri dismissed an appeal filed by the CBI challenging the High Court order. The bench said there were no grounds to interfere with the High Court order.
The CBI had charged Ms Ratna Prabha of allegedly extending undue favours to Indu Tech Pvt Ltd while allotting land in the capacity of secretary to the II and Communication department.
She was charged under IPC Sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 409 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating). The special CBI Court had taken cognizance of the chargesheet and she was cited as accused No. 9.
Ms Ratna Prabha challenged the special court’s order in the High Court contending that she had discharged her duties after duly following the instructions of the government under Article 311 of the Constitution and also the Business Rules and the Secretariat Instructions.
Discharging government functions would not come under the ambit of criminal breach of trust or cheating.
Accepting her plea the High Court quashed the charges holding that they were baseless and that there was no prima facie case made against her.
The High Court noted that the signatures of the chief secretary were very much available on the note file and in fact the petitioner had forwarded the note file before the Cabinet after incorporating the notes of the Finance department.
It said the petitioner could not be found at fault, as it was the duty of the government either to approve or disapprove of a decision placed before it in due process.
The CBI in its appeal contended that the High Court had erroneously quashed the charges against Ms. Ratna Prabha when there was enough evidence on record to prosecute her.
It prayed for setting aside the impugned order and to allow the trial to go on against her.
