Amaravati land scam: SC issues notices to TDP leaders Varla Ramaiah, others

Vijayawada: The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices to senior Telugu Desam leader Varla Ramaiah and other respondents in a case pertaining to probing the alleged land scam in Amaravati capital area.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan was dealing with a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the state government against a High Court order staying probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) into land transactions carried out by several TD leaders and persons close to them allegedly with prior knowledge of location the state’s capital.

Representing the state government, senior advocate Dushyant Dave described the HC order "extraordinary" which he said stopped the entire investigation into allegations of fraudulent practices and abuse of power. “It is impossible for a High Court to interfere at a pre-investigation stage and stay all proceedings. A busybody of TD moves the HC and talks about its image and the petition is admitted,” he pointed out.

Dave argued that the HC should not have exercised such broad powers as it is also bound by the laws declared by the apex court. “They (HC) don't have extraordinary powers to pass any order as they like. They interdicted a probe and even registration of a case. Can this be allowed? Is this how a high court can function?" He also wondered how people who are not affected by the probe filed petitions invoking Article 226 and HC entertained it.

At one stage, Justice Bhushan sought to know if the present government wanted to probe into every decision taken by the previous government. The state government, however, clarified that the review is with regard to such decisions which led to looting of public exchequer by people in power at that time. He also submitted to the court that the government had no ill intentions behind the probe.