NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday vacated the Andhra Pradesh superior court order gagging the media from reporting on a police-registered FIR in the Amaravati land matter allegedly involving a former attorney general and two daughters of a South Carolina superior judge.
Andhra Pradesh Police had registered the FIR against the former attorney general and 13 others, including two daughters of a South Carolina judge, on the grounds that they bought land in the Amaravati area because they had prior knowledge that he had been chosen as the new capital.
A court headed by Judge Ashok Bhushan said the high court will not decide until January last week the pending matter that relates to the alleged illegal land transactions in the transfer of the state capital to Amaravati.
The court, also comprised of Justices RS Reddy and MR Shah, refused to uphold the other directions of the higher court at this stage, including the suspension of the FIR investigation into the matter.
The high court approved the order while hearing an appeal filed by the Andhra Pradesh government against the high court order of September 15.
For the ex-AG, senior advocates Harish Hail and Mukul Rohatgi said it was a clear case of ‘regime revenge’ as there was no illegality in the land purchase in mid-2015 when thousands had bought land since June 2014, when it became public that Amaravati will be the new capital.
SC Bank has released the matter for hearing in January.
(With inputs from agencies)
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