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Synopsis

The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that the state can form a fact finding committee to probe into allegations or corruption of a previous government.

A bench of Justices MR Shah and MM Sundresh set aside an Andhra Pradesh High Court order staying a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into various cases of alleged financial irregularities under the former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu (Telugu Devoswom Party - TDP).

The current ruling party headed by Chief Minister YS Jagan Reddy had sought probe into alleged irregularities in some policy decisions of the previous government which devolved over alleged scams into large-scale projects and schemes, including the Amaravati land scam. The government had ordered a detailed investigation but the Andhra Pradesh High Court subsequently granted a stay on the SIT probe in petitions filed by TDP.

Today, the Supreme Court cleared the way for initiating probe into the alleged irregularities under the Chandrababu regime.

Court, while pronouncing verdict said that,

“State is justified in saying that High Court has misunderstood the two Government Orders. The same cannot be said to be overturning the decision of previous govt. There may be certain aspects which need to be considered by the High Court like terms of reference.. High Court should not have stayed the order when the matter was at premature stage. We accordingly allow the appeals and set aside the High Court's interim order while not making any observations on merits. High Court has missed to note that State had earlier asked the Centre to appoint CBI to probe the issue. We direct the HC to hear the case afresh.”

Case Title: State of Andhra Pradesh & Anr vs Varla Ramaiah, Etc