Supreme Court stays AP HC order castigating state, its functionaries

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed Andhra Pradesh High Court’s order castigating the wisdom of state government, Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and that of lawyers representing the government.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Sharad A. Bobde, Justice A. S. Bopanna and Justice V. Ramasubramanian stayed the AP High Court order dated December 30, 2020, on an appeal by the Andhra Pradesh government.

Senior lawyer Sajan Poovayya, assisted by advocate Mahfooz Ahsan Nazaki, appeared for the AP state.

The High Court, vide the December 30 order, questioned the wisdom of government, the Chief Minister and advocates representing AP on different counts, including conduct of some lawyers representing the government.

The critical observations of High Court followed an application by the state government seeking recusal of a judge on grounds that the said judge had prejudged the issue without hearing the state government.

Jagan Mohan Reddy government was aggrieved with observation in course of an earlier hearing when the court questioned the decision of AP state auctioning certain state properties, wondering whether the state had become bankrupt.

“How could the government auction properties of the state, has the government become bankrupt to auction government properties; we will declare there is a breakdown of constitutional machinery in the state and hand over administration to the central government.”

This was the statement made by one of the members of the bench, which has been disputed.

The petition of Andhra Pradesh government said perusal of contents of the “unprecedented” order turned out unrelated to the issue raised in the matter. This would show that the High Court has not stopped merely at castigating the government, its functionaries and advocates appearing for the government. It even went on to cast aspersions on the top court’s collegiums on mere ipse dixit (an assertion without proof) of the judge.