The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Andhra Pradesh High Court's gag order on media reporting and social media comments on the contents of the Amaravati land scam FIR.
A bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and M R Shah passed the stay order on a special leave petition filed by the State of Andhra Pradesh challenging the interim order passed by the High Court on September 15.
The top court has listed the matter for hearing in January 2021 and has directed the parties to file their counter affidavits in the meantime. The Court has also requested the High Court not to decide the writ petition in the meanwhile.
However, the Supreme Court has not interfered with the stay order passed by the High Court on the investigation into the FIR registered for Amaravati land scam. In the High Court, a bench of Chief Justice J K Maheshwari passed the interim order in a writ petition filed by the former Advocate General of AP, Dammalapatti Srinivas.
The impugned order stayed the investigation and restrained any media reporting and social media comments as to the FIR registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau alleging corruption and illegal land transactions in relation to the shift of the capital to Amravati following the bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh in 2014.
The gag order of the HC said :
"It is further directed that the news in regard to registration of FIR or in the context of the said FIR shall not be made public in any electronic, print or social media. The Secretary, Home Department, Govt. of A.P., the Director General of Police, A.P., shall inform through the Information and Public Relations Department, Govt. of A.P., to the effect that no electronic or print news item be published with respect to the FIR No.08/RCO-ACB-GNT/2020 of ACB, Guntur, dated 15.09.2020 and connected events until further orders of this Court. Social media posts shall also not be published and, in this regard, the Director General of Police, A.P., and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, shall take steps to inform the relevant social media platforms/houses in this regard".
The allegation in the FIR was that even before the new capital at Amaravati was announced in 2015, there was mass land pool sharing during the period of 6 months before by benamidars of people involved.
The FIR named several prominent individuals, including the former Advocate General.
State's Arguments
Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhavan appearing for the State of Andhra Pradesh argued that the stay on investigation by the High Court was unwarranted inasmuch as the writ petition before it was essentially a petition for anticipatory bail and to stop media reporting on the Amaravati land scam FIR.
"The HC stayed the investigation and also stopped media reporting on the FIR. How can investigation be stopped?" he said.
He pointed out that the said FIR named 13 persons whereas the writ petition in the High Court was only confined to the former AG. It was thus contended that the High Court had gone "beyond the reliefs sought for".
https://livelaw.in/top-stories/supreme-court-stays-andhra-pradesh-high-courts-gag-order-on-media-reports-social-media-comments-on-amaravati-land-scam-fir-166365
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The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Andhra Pradesh High Court's gag order on media reporting and social media comments on the contents of the Amaravati land scam FIR. A bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and M R Shah passed the stay order on a special leave petition filed by the State of Andhra Pradesh challenging the interim order passed by the High Court on September 15. The top court has listed the matter for hearing in January 2021 and has directed the parties to file their counter affidavits in the meantime. The Court has also requested the High Court not to decide the writ petition in the meanwhile. However, the Supreme Court has not interfered with the stay order passed by the High Court on the investigation into the FIR registered for Amaravati land scam. In the High Court, a bench of Chief Justice J K Maheshwari passed the interim order in a writ petition filed by the former Advocate General of AP, Dammalapatti Srinivas. The impugned order stayed the investigation and restrained any media reporting and social media comments as to the FIR registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau alleging corruption and illegal land transactions in relation to the shift of the capital to Amravati following the bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh in 2014. The gag order of the HC said : "It is further directed that the news in regard to registration of FIR or in the context of the said FIR shall not be made public in any electronic, print or social media. The Secretary, Home Department, Govt. of A.P., the Director General of Police, A.P., shall inform through the Information and Public Relations Department, Govt. of A.P., to the effect that no electronic or print news item be published with respect to the FIR No.08/RCO-ACB-GNT/2020 of ACB, Guntur, dated 15.09.2020 and connected events until further orders of this Court. Social media posts shall also not be published and, in this regard, the Director General of Police, A.P., and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, shall take steps to inform the relevant social media platforms/houses in this regard". The allegation in the FIR was that even before the new capital at Amaravati was announced in 2015, there was mass land pool sharing during the period of 6 months before by benamidars of people involved. The FIR named several prominent individuals, including the former Advocate General. State's Arguments Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhavan appearing for the State of Andhra Pradesh argued that the stay on investigation by the High Court was unwarranted inasmuch as the writ petition before it was essentially a petition for anticipatory bail and to stop media reporting on the Amaravati land scam FIR. "The HC stayed the investigation and also stopped media reporting on the FIR. How can investigation be stopped?" he said. He pointed out that the said FIR named 13 persons whereas the writ petition in the High Court was only confined to the former AG. It was thus contended that the High Court had gone "beyond the reliefs sought for". https://livelaw.in/top-stories/supreme-court-stays-andhra-pradesh-high-courts-gag-order-on-media-reports-social-media-comments-on-amaravati-land-scam-fir-166365