Telangana HC slams PIL seeking speedy trial in Jagan assets cases

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea or even direct the court registry to allot a registration number to a petition requesting direction to the CBI court in Hyderabad to expedite trial in cases pertaining to Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s disproportionate assets cases registered by the CBI and ED.

The division bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N. Tukaramji faulted petitioner Chegondi Venkata Harirama Jogaiah, a former MP, for filing a PIL in the regard, saying that the matter was not of public interest but one of a personal grudge.

Citing recent comments by Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, who expressed dismay at cases turning out to be a nuisance under the garb of public interest, Bhuyan said the case appeared to follow a similar pattern. In the PIL, Jogaiah submitted that the cases were pending for a long and that the people of Andhra Pradesh needed to know whether their Chief Minister was guilty or falsely booked in the cases before the 2024 elections. In keeping with his request, Jogaiah asked the High Court to direct the CBI to take up the cases on a day-to-day basis and conclude them before the elections in 2024.

However, the High Court registry objected to the PIL but on the request of Jogaiah’s counsel was placed before the division bench.

In the course of the hearing, Bhuyan also expressed displeasure over the petitioner making representation to the Chief Justice of India to direct the CBI court.

“By writing to the CJI and other higher authorities, is the petitioner
expecting the courts to operate under duress?’, Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan observed.

Bhuyan asked: “Why didn’t you give a representation to the CBI court seeking a speedier trial, instead of writing to CJI?”

The court pointed out that there were insufficient public prosecutors in
courts and not enough standing counsels appointed for CBI further said: “Why don't you ask the CBI director for this, as a public-spirited person?”

However, at the request of Jogaiah’s counsel, the court directed the
registry to provide a copy of the necessary forms for registering the case and adjourned the matter to July 6.