The Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department, in a statement on January 16, said that the “Supreme Court refused to quash the First Information Report (FIR) registered against former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in the alleged skill development scam case.”
“The Supreme Court Bench, comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M. Trivedi, has upheld the remand order passed by the Special Court for ACB Cases and the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s decision to dismiss the quash plea of Mr. Naidu,” the legal cell of the CID said in the statement.
The Judges differed on the interpretation of Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, which makes prior sanction of the appointing authority mandatory for prosecution of public servants, the statement said.
“Justice Aniruddha Bose said that complying with the requirement of prior sanction under Section 17A is necessary, and such sanction must be obtained even for acts prior to 2018 when the Section was inserted. However, Justice Bose ruled that the absence of approval (since it can be obtained later) will not render invalid the remand order passed by the ACB Court,” the statement said. On the other hand, Justice Bela M. Trivedi said that Section 17A cannot be made applicable retrospectively. Hence, the matter was referred to a larger Bench on the aspect of interpretation of Section 17A.
The Supreme Court’s refusal to quash the proceedings proved that there was no political vendetta behind the prosecution of Mr. Naidu, the CID statement said. The Bench’s “unanimous view that the arrest and remand are in accordance with law clearly upholds the government’s contention on the scam,” the statement added.
“The Supreme Court Bench unanimously agreed that there is material for prosecuting Mr. Naidu under IPC Sections and the PC Act,” the statement asserted.
Since the Bench differed on Section 17A of the PC Act, the matter would now be placed before the Chief Justice of India, the statement said.
