VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court has refused to restrain the public from referring to or using observations made by a single judge in a judgment that ordered an Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) inquiry into an alleged conspiracy to grab municipal land worth crores of rupees in Kakinada.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Lisa Gill and Justice Challa Gunaranjan rejected a request made by Special Government Pleader (SGP) Singamaneni Pranathi seeking directions to prevent anyone from using or circulating the observations made against her in the single judge’s verdict.
The Bench observed that the judgment is a public document already in the public domain and, therefore, such a direction cannot be issued.
However, the bench stayed, until the next hearing, the implementation of the adverse observations made against Pranathi in the single judge’s judgment and also stayed the ACB inquiry against her.
The matter has been posted for further hearing in the second week of August. The controversy relates to land donated to the Kakinada Municipal Corporation for public purposes. Private individuals claimed rights over the land.
