On Tuesday, the Supreme Court refused to consider a petition calling for an action against Andhra Pradesh Prime Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy for making public the scandalous allegations against High Court Judge NV Ramana.
A three-judge bench led by Judge SK Kaul said the sentence of attorneys GS Mani and Pradeep Kumar Yadav could not be upheld. He also refused to allow prayer for an investigation by a retired judge or the Central Bureau of Investigation into the allegations against Ramana. Reddy accused Ramana of influencing the list of cases against him with a view to destabilizing his government in a letter to the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde on October 6.
The court sent another petition on the matter to be heard in conjunction with the Andhra Pradesh government’s pending appeal against a separate Supreme Court order lifting the media gag on the content of a First Information Report (FIR) filed in connection to a land adjudication scam in Amravati. Some relatives of Ramana have been named in the FIR.
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In the second petition, attorney Sunil Kumar Singh has questioned Reddy’s constitutional ownership by making his accusations public. The court allowed this petition to be heard along with the pending appeal.
On Mani and Yadav’s petition, the court said: “Once this Court has lifted the gag order, how do these sentences survive.” The court was referring to his prayer to prevent Reddy from making such a statement in the future.
Regarding the convenience, the court said: “Once a court of this Court hears the matter, the consequences to be followed by that court will examine.”
The previous attorney general, KK Venugopal, refused to grant consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Reddy and his adviser Ajeya Kallam for writing the October 6 letter and the subsequent October 10 press conference. He noted that Reddy’s comments were prima facie stubborn. But since the letter is pending consideration with Bobde, he refused to interfere by giving his consent.
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