The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the petition of senior advocate and former MP Subramanian Swamy challenging the appointment of a one-man committee by the Chandrababu Naidu government in Andhra Pradesh to study the report submitted by the CBI-led special investigation team on the alleged supply of adulterated ghee to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) during the previous YSR Congress party regime.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said the one-man committee was meant only for an administrative enquiry and it cannot overlap the findings of the CBI-led chargesheet.
“The investigation into the case is complete and the SIT had submitted chargesheet and supplementary chargesheet. The state government has only constituted a one-man committee to find out who is responsible for lapse and consequences of the lapse,” the CJI said.
He observed that such an administrative enquiry cannot be called as overlapping with the criminal proceedings which led to chargesheet and supplementary chargesheet.
“There is no conflict of interest or overlapping and the scope of investigation and enquiry having been well demarcated shows that apprehension of petitioner does not have a solid foundation. Let both processes continue strictly in accordance with law,” Justice Surya Kant said.
Earlier, Swamy argued that the state government’s move undermines the authority of the SIT, which was constituted earlier by the Supreme Court itself to probe irregularities surrounding the famed Tirumala laddus distributed by the TTD.
Arguing for the Naidu government, senior advocate Sidharth Luthra said Swamy’s plea was completely mala fide.
“He just wants to delay the administrative action by relying on newspaper reports,” he said.