Advocates frown at N Chandrababu Naidu remark on YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's case
Hyderabad: The statement of AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu with regard to YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s illegal investment case in view of the bifurcation of the High Court and subordinate judiciary has raised eyebrows among judicial circles.
Mr Naidu told media persons in Hyderabad that in view of the bifurcation of courts, Mr Reddy’s cases may go back to square one and the cases would need to be heard afresh.
Lawyers say that the bifurcation of the judiciary has nothing to do with Mr Reddy’s case which has been pending before the special CBI court in Hyderabad. Bifurcation will not have any impact on the case, they say.
Senior advocate C. Nageswara Rao, former public prosecutor of undivided AP, said it was a strange argument that because of bifurcation, criminal cases which were booked on the ground of jurisdiction of the commission of offence would not be transferred. "This kind of argument is unknown to law," Mr Nageswara Rao said.
He explained that the cases were registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation in Hyderabad as the alleged land allocation was transacted from Hyderabad during the regime of late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy. "Though the land parcels allocated to various companies which are now facing charges in the illegal investments case are located in various parts of Andhra Pradesh, the cases would not be transferred as the special CBI court at Hyderabad has already taken cognisance of the cases," Mr Nageswara Rao said.
He said that even the High Court of a state has no jurisdiction to order the transfer of cases against Mr Reddy to AP. The HC has jurisdiction only to order the transfer of cases from one court to another, both under its jurisdiction. Mr C. Mallesh Rao, senior criminal lawyer, explained that the argument for transfer of cases of Mr Reddy to AP was contrary to criminal jurisprudence. “If the cases against Mr Reddy end in acquittal or conviction, the appellate jurisdiction is the Telangana High Court,” Mr Mallesh Rao said. He explained that the law does not permit transfer of cases which originated under the ground place of commission of offence.
