VIJAYAWADA: With the conclusion of arguments on the anticipatory bail petitions of TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and former Excise minister Kollu Ravindra in the alleged liquor scam case on Thursday, the Andhra Pradesh High Court adjourned the hearing to Monday (November 27) so the advocates of both the sides can submit their arguments in writing.
Appearing for Naidu in the case, senior advocates Nagamuttu and Dammalapati Srinivas said the file proposing the exemption of privilege fee for liquor shops never came up before the then CM Naidu. The counsel argued that decisions pertaining to the privilege fee exemption were taken at the Excise minister and excise commissioner level itself.
According to the petitioners’ counsel, the post State bifurcation, from June 2014 to March 2015, the excise department got only Rs 11 crore in revenue, which makes the prosecution’s argument that with the exemption of privilege fee, the State exchequer suffered Rs 1,500 crore loss irrelevant.
Further, there was no mention of State exchequer suffering loss due to the exemption of the privilege as part of the excise policy during 2014-19 in the CAG report.
Dammalapati and Nagamuttu argued that the prosecution had misled the court by showing the draft copy of the CAG report 2019.
Further, it was explained that the cabinet decision was taken to allow SPY Agros to pay its licence fee with interest in instalments, after taking legal opinion.
They said the Advocate General has not explained why the anticipatory bail should not be given to the petitioners.
They further argued that the prosecution failed to show any evidence to prove that Naidu had demanded money in the case and it was sent to him. In the last one-and-a-half months, six cases were registered against Naidu as regime revenge, they said.
Kollu’s advocate Posani Venkateswarlu said as the case against the ex-minister was registered based on decisions taken prior to 2019, Section 17A of the PC Act is applicable. He said no evidence was shown to establish the former minister acted with ill motives.
Advocate General S Sriram urged the court to dismiss the anticipatory bail petition as the decision of the petitioners had caused a loss to the exchequer. Later, Justice T Mallikarjuna Rao adjourned the case for Monday.