Supreme Court on Wednesday granted a stay on the order of Andhra Pradesh high court restricting media on reporting the contents of a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in connection with a land scam in Amaravati, the present capital region of the state.
A division bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and M R Shah passed a stay order after hearing the arguments in connection with a special leave petition filed by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government challenging the high court order of September 15.
The apex court listed the matter for further hearing in January 2021 and directed the parties to file their counter affidavits in the meantime. The court has also requested the high court not to decide the writ petition in the meanwhile.
However, the Supreme Court did not interfere with the stay order passed by the high court on the investigation into the FIR registered for Amaravati land scam
Criticised by the media experts and legal luminaries as a virtual attempt to gag the media, the high court in its order directed the media against reporting the contents of the FIR filed by the ACB against former advocate general Dammalapati Srinivas and 13 others including two daughters of a sitting Supreme Court judge.
The FIR pertaining to purchase of land closer to Amaravati at a throwaway price during the regime of Chandrababu Naidu, which the government described as insider trading.
The Jagan Mohan Reddy government has mounted a challenge against this order, primarily stating that the order came to be passed in relation to an FIR which itself was not questioned.
Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhavan appearing for the State of Andhra Pradesh argued that the stay on investigation by the High Court was unwarranted in as much as the writ petition before it was essentially a petition for anticipatory bail and to stop media reporting on the Amaravati land scam FIR.