India News | Land Deals in ACR: AP HC Grants Stay on SIT's Actions

Amaravati, Sep 16 (PTI): The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday granted a stay on the actions of the Special Investigation Team constituted by the state government to conduct a comprehensive probe into various irregularities, particularly the land deals in the Amaravati Capital Region, during the previous Telugu Desam Party regime.

Justice D V V Somayajulu passed an interim order to this effect on two writ petitions filed by former minister Alapati Rajendra Prasad and TDP general secretary Varla Ramaiah, challenging the legality of the SIT.

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The state government said it would move the Supreme Court against the High Courts orders.

Government Advisor (Public Affairs) Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy termed the High Court orders "surprising" and "unfortunate".

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The Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government 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.

The report of a Cabinet Sub-Committee on the "procedural, legal and financial irregularities and fraudulent transactions concerned with various projects, including the issues related to land in the CRDA region will form the basis for the SIT probe, General Administration Department Principal Secretary (Political) Praveen Prakash had said in an order issued then.

The SIT had since been conducting a probe into various aspects, particularly the land deals in Amaravati region even as the state government wrote to the Centre, seeking an investigation by the CBI.

Challenging the state governments order, the TDP leaders contended that the constitution of SIT was "arbitrary, illegal, without jurisdiction and unconstitutional" and consequently sought that it be set aside.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)