NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court delivered a split verdict on former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's plea seeking a direction to quash the criminal proceedings against him in the Skill Development Corporation (SDC) scam case.
The two-judge bench, headed by Justice Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi, today, in their verdict, disagreed with each other's opinion and therefore agreed to refer the matter to the Chief Justice of India.
Justice Bose in his order allowed Naidu's appeal, while Justice Trivedi dismissed his appeal.
Justice Bose said, "The sanction needed to be taken by the police under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act which was not taken and said that the authority can now apply sanction. He, however, said that the proceedings under the Indian Penal Code (IPC)would continue."
Meanwhile, Justice Trivedi, said that no sanction was needed.
"The object of the act is to combat corruption and the goal of 17A is to protect honest public servants from harassment and the object cannot be to give benefit to dishonest public servants and making it retrospectively applicable will frustrate the object of PC ACT. Absence of approval would never be the ground to quash the FIR especially when he (Naidu) is charged under other PC Act offences as well and since it is done during his official capacity it will not come under 17a and this will lead to curtailing probe at a nascent stage," Justice Trivedi said in her judgement.
She also went on to say that there was no error in the remand order and thus the AP HC order is also not suffering any infirmity and thus his (Naidu's) appeal is dismissed.
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Justice Bose said that since there was a differing view on section 17A thus delivered a spilt verdict and went on to refer the matter to the CJI for appropriate directions.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Chief, Naidu, had moved the Apex Court challenging the September 22, 2023 AP State HC order refusing to quash the FIR against him in the case. The AP State HC, however, had on November 20 last year granted him regular bail in the case.
The Top Court had reserved its verdict on October 17 last year, after hearing the arguments and submissions extensively from Naidu, AP govt and other parties in the case.
The State's Crime Investigation Department (CID) arrested Naidu on September 9, last year, when he was the CM of the state in 2015, in connection with a fraud case involving misappropriation of funds from the SDC and he had allegedly made a loss to the State exchequer to the tune of Rs 300 crores.
The TDP chief had contended before the Top Court that the FIR (First Information Report) against him was registered without obtaining the prior approval of the competent authority in the case and, therefore, his arrest was illegal and unwarranted and thereby it needed to be quashed.
While dismissing his petition, the AP HC had said criminal proceedings ought not to be scuttled at the initial stage and quashing an FIR should be an exception rather than the rule.
After this, Naidu moved the SC challenging it and sought quashing of it.
AP government had also moved the Top Court against the State HC's order granting regular bail to Naidu in the case. But it, however, failed to get any relief from the SC.
It is significant to note that Naidu has already secured regular bail from the Top Court in the SDC scam, till further orders.
AP govt, in the top court, said that the alleged crime against Naidu relates to a project involving the Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC), Siemens Industry Software (India) Pvt. Ltd and DesignTech India Private Limited for the establishment of SIEMENS centres of excellence and skill development in six clusters in AP.
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Naidu has been accused of expedited incorporation of the APSSDC by overruling objections that it required state Cabinet approval. He, claimed innocence in the case.
It is alleged by the present AP govt that Naidu allegedly created his choice of some appointments in the APSSDC to “facilitate the scam”.
Naidu, it is alleged by the state govt, also entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Siemens and DesignTech without any tender process.
He also expedited release of funds for the project “before any work was done, even overruling the objections of senior officers such as the Finance Secretary”, the state govt alleged in the Top court.
BY: Suchitra Kalyan Mohanty