AP HC Hears Jagan’s Plea for Passport to Visit UK

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh High Court has held a hearing on the petition filed by former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy seeking removal of hurdles in the way of UK visit plans.

The petition raised objections to the additional conditions imposed by a special court for grant of NOC vis-a-vis Jagan Reddy’s plea for issue of a passport to enable his foreign visit. A single-judge bench of Justice Krupa Sagar heard the matter on Friday.

Counsel for the YSR Congress chief Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy sought the court’s permission to move a launch motion petition. In response, the judge sought details of the orders issued by the Vijayawada special court and the CBI special court in Hyderabad.

Counsel informed the court that Jagan Reddy as CM had a diplomatic passport. Later, it was changed to a normal passport.

"The special court, which tries cases of MLAs and MPs, imposed certain conditions for issue of NOC to Jagan Reddy to get the passport. The conditions were that the duration of the passport would be for only a year, and that Jagan Reddy should submit a personal surety of Rs 20,000 for permission to visit the UK from September 6 to 27," the high court was told.

Counsel informed the court that the CBI special court had issued permission to Jagan Reddy to visit the UK from Sept 3 to 25 and ordered the issue of a passport for five years. He argued that both the courts issued orders with different dates for Jagan Reddy’s visit to the UK and also put forward varied conditions.

He said the special court in the city was imposing certain unreasonable conditions for Jagan Reddy to get the NOC for a passport. The conditions were based on a defamation case existing against Jagan Reddy for the past few years, the court was told. The high court adjourned the case for next hearing to September 9.