The bench, however, rejected the request and stated in the order, “Hearing concluded. We have heard the main matter and we will deliver the judgement”
The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its judgment on a plea filed former Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu seeking to quash the FIR registered against him in the skill development scam case.
Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi reserved its verdict after hearing the arguments of senior advocates Harish Salve and Sidhartha Luthra, appearing for Naidu, and Mukul Rohatgi, representing the Andhra Pradesh government.
As the hearing was at the fag end, Salve urged the bench to give Naidu interim bail and said, “He is a 73-year-old man who has been inside for 40 days. I have a request for interim bail. Court may consider releasing him. If you eventually rule against him, he can go back. In the 2015-16 inquiry, the government’s lament was that nothing came out of it. Now, in 2021, they are desperately grasping at straws.”
The bench, however, rejected the request and stated in the order, “Hearing concluded. We have heard the main matter and we will deliver the judgment.”
Meanwhile, the bench posted for hearing on Friday another plea of Naidu in FiberNet scam case. It also extended its earlier order asking the government not to arrest Naidu till October 20, Friday. He has also challenged the Andhra Pradesh High Court order denying him anticipatory bail in the FiberNet scam case.
Naidu had approached the top court seeking quashing of FIR and cited Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, to challenge his arrest by the Andhra Pradesh police’s CID in skill development scam. He had challenged the High Court judgment rejecting his plea for the quashing of FIR. Naidu is currently in judicial custody.
Naidu has sought quashing of FIR registered by AP-CID in the alleged Rs 371 crore skill development scam on the ground that the police did not obtain prior sanction from the Governor as mandated under Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.
Andhra Pradesh government has objected to Naidu’s plea saying Section 17A of the PC Act can’t parachute in the cases of alleged corruption leading to loss to the State exchequer that happened before its insertion in the Act on July 26, 2018.
Naidu, presently the Leader of Opposition, the national president of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), called the action against him as “an orchestrated campaign of regime revenge and to derail the largest opposition, the Telugu Desam Party”.
Source: Business Standard
