The Supreme Court on Thursday accused Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy of making “irresponsible” comments amounting to “casting aspersions” on the court for granting bail to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K. Kavitha in the Delhi excise policy case.
Mr. Reddy is reported in the media to have said that Ms. Kavitha got bail because of a deal between the BRS and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Union Minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar was reported to have posted a tweet alleging a political collusion between the Congress and the BJP in the backdrop of the bail order. Other Congress and BJP leaders in Telangana had issued statements.
“Do we pass our orders in consultation with political parties? We are not bothered about which party politicians belong to… We are not bothered by politicians’ criticism of our orders. We do our duty as per the Constitution and our oath,” Justice B.R. Gavai addressed senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Mr. Reddy. Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy and advocate Sravan Kumar appeared for the State of Telangana.
Justice K.V. Viswanathan, on the Bench, said a sense of mutual respect was as important as maintaining an arm’s length among the three organs of governance.
Mutual respect
“There should be mutual respect among the three institutions of legislature, government and the judiciary… How can this kind of irresponsible statement be made by a person holding the office of the Chief Minister?” Justice Viswanathan asked.
Both judges were on the Bench which gave Ms. Kavitha bail on August 27, primarily on the grounds that the investigation was complete; she had already spent five months in jail; and there was no possibility of the completion of the trial in the near future.
On Thursday morning, Justices Gavai and Viswanathan, this time sitting in a three-judge combination with Justice P.K. Mishra, were hearing a petition filed by BRS MLA Guntakandla Jagadish Reddy to shift the trial in the 2015 cash-for-vote case, in which the Chief Minister is a prime accused, to a State outside Telangana.
The court had orally conveyed that it intended to appoint a Special Prosecutor rather than shift the case outside Telangana. The Bench had posted the case at 2 p.m. to pass a formal order finalising the name of the Special Prosecutor after consulting with the Telangana High Court judges during the lunch break.
However, matters took a sudden turn for the worse for the Telangana Chief Minister at 2 p.m.
The Bench, pointing to media reports of Mr. Revanth Reddy’s comments, accused him of challenging the authority of the Supreme Court.
In his turn, senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, appearing for Mr. Jagadish Reddy, said Mr. Revanth Reddy had earlier threatened the investigating officers in the cash-for-vote case. The trial would not be fair as Mr. Revanth Reddy was both Chief Minister and Home Minister of Telangana, he submitted. Mr. Naidu said Mr. Revanth Reddy was “both prosecutor and accused in the case”.
He said if Mr. Revanth Reddy had the “audacity” to challenge the Supreme Court orders, one could imagine what he would do during trial court proceedings within the State of Telangana.
“If somebody has the audacity of commenting on the order of the Supreme Court like this… if somebody is of this adamant attitude, then let him [Revanth Reddy] face trial outside the State…” Justice Gavai addressed the Chief Minister’s lawyers.
Mr. Rohatgi urged the court to give him time to speak to the Chief Minister. He successfully asked the court to defer the case to September 2.
ACB chargesheet
On May 31, 2015, Mr. Revanth Reddy, then with the Telugu Desam Party, was apprehended by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) while allegedly paying ₹50 lakh bribe to Elvis Stephenson, a nominated MLA, for supporting TDP nominee Vem Narendar Reddy in the legislative council elections.
In July 2015, the ACB had filed a chargesheet against Mr. Reddy and others under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
On January 5, the apex court had deferred till February the hearing of Mr. Revanth Reddy’s separate petition challenging a High Court order dismissing his plea questioning the jurisdiction of an ACB court in conducting the trial in the cash-for-vote scam case.
Mr. Reddy has challenged in the Supreme Court the June 1, 2021 order of the High Court by which his plea questioning the jurisdiction of the Special Court to conduct the trial in the case was dismissed.
Published - August 29, 2024 12:09 pm IST
