The indefinite stay on the investigation into Amaravati land scam by the Andhra Pradesh high court drew some critical comments from Supreme Court on Thursday.
The SC was acting on a special leave petition filed by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government challenging the stay order issued by the state high court on the case filed against former Tulluru tahsildar Sudheer Babu and others in connection with illegal registration of assigned lands in Amaravati.
Though the SC did not vacate the stay granted in the case, it asked the state high court to settle the case by concluding hearing within one week. The SC would take up the state government’s SLP three weeks later.
Apparently, the SC observed that it was not appropriate on the part of the high court to grant stay orders in such cases. It asked the high court to take a decision on the stay order; otherwise, the SC itself would take the initiate to take up the case.
“How can the high court say that there is no merit in the case? We have been telling right from the beginning that there should not be any stay on the ongoing investigation into any issue. Let the law take its own course,” the SC observed.