The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Andhra Pradesh High Court direction restraining the media from publishing news regarding an FIR lodged on alleged irregularities in land transactions in Amaravati.
A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said that the high court shall not decide till January last week the pending matter which relates to the alleged illegal land transactions during shifting of the State capital to Amaravati.
The bench, also comprising Justices RS Reddy and MR Shah, refused to stay at this stage the other directions of the HC, including the stay on probe into the FIR. The SC passed the order while hearing an appeal filed by the Andhra Pradesh Government against HC’s September 15 order.
The top court, which did not issue notice to chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on the appeal, sought responses from others including the Director General of Police of Andhra Pradesh.
“In the meantime, directions issued in the impugned order dated September 15, 2020 to the extent of following shall remain stayed.
‘It is further directed that the news in regard to registration of FIR or in the context of the said FIR shall not be made public in any electronic, print or social media, to foist the office of a former Advocate General and also with respect to the other alleged accused persons.’,” the bench said in its order.
“Issue notice. Notice is not being issued to respondent no.5 (Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy) in view of the fact that the high court had not issued notice to respondent no.5,” it said.
The bench said it was not issuing notice to state’s former advocate general Dammalapati Srinivas, on whose plea the high court had passed the order, as he has appeared before it on caveat.
It allowed Srinivas to file counter affidavit in the matter within four weeks.
“We having listed the matter in the last week of January, 2021, the high court is requested not to finally decide the writ petition, in the meantime,” the bench said in its order.
The Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government had earlier constituted the 10-member SIT, headed by a Deputy Inspector General of Police- rank IPS officer, on February 21 to conduct a comprehensive investigation into various alleged irregularities, particularly the land deals in the Amaravati Capital Region, during the previous Chandrababu Naidu regime.