HYDERABAD: Considering the plea of Lakshmi Parvati, wife of late chief minister NT Rama Rao, the Special ACB court in Hyderabad on Friday adjourned hearing of the petition filed against former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu alleging disproportionate assets to December 20.
Pursuant to earlier direction of the court, the petitioner’s statement has to be recorded on Friday.
When the matter came up for hearing, Lakshmi Parvati urged the court to adjourn the case hearing since her senior counsel who has to appear in the case, was not available in the city.
Considering the plea, the court posted the matter to December 20.
In 2005, she filed the case before the ACB court alleging that Naidu has acquired disproportionate assets by corrupt means. When Naidu filed an appeal challenging that complaint, the then AP High Court had granted stay on proceedings pending before the ACB Court. Since the last 14 years, the stay was in operation and the high court had also refused to vacate the stay as pleaded by Lakshmi Parvati.
On earlier occasion, senior counsel Surender Reddy, appearing for Lakshmi Parvati, referred to last year’s Supreme Court’s judgment, wherein a blanket order was issued vacating stay orders in all the old civil and criminal cases, and submitted that the stay granted in 2005 in Naidu’s appeal also stood vacated.
Any stay order will be in force for a maximum period of six months. Since there were no further orders from the High Court extending the above stay, the ACB court can take up the case for hearing, he added.
Taking these submissions into consideration, the Special ACB court decided to hear the case since the stay granted earlier by the Andhra Pradesh High Court has elapsed and there was no further extension of such stay, and posted the matter to December 6 for recording the statement of Lakshmi Parvati.