[Amravati Land Scam] Supreme Court refuses to interfere in Andhra Pradesh HC order quashing FIRs filed by State against private sellers

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere in the Andhra Pradesh High Court order which had quashed the criminal cases lodged by the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government against private sellers named in connection with the Amaravati land scam..The Bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari dismissed five appeals filed by the State government against the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s decision of January 19 this year. The High Court had quashed the FIR lodged for the Indian Penal Code offences of cheating (Section 420), criminal breach of trust (Section 406), breach of trust by public servant (Section 409) and criminal conspiracy (Section 120B)..The top court has observed in the order that without considering the facts of the case, "the question as to whether the allegations in the FIR or complaint prima facie constitute any offence or make out a case against the accused, cannot be decided". .The Bench has stated that if the contention of the Andhra Pradesh government is accepted, then in no case can courts examine whether the inherent powers to prevent abuse of the process of the Court or otherwise to secure ends of justice be exercised or not. "In our considered view, what the Court is required to see is as to whether on the facts as narrated in the criminal complaint or an FIR, any case for proceeding against the accused is made out or not. The High Court has considered this aspect at great length and we are of the opinion that there is no perversity or illegality in the findings recorded by the High Court while allowing the Petition and quashing the FIRs and the proceedings pursuant thereto," reads the order..On the submissions made by the parties that Section 418 IPC (cheating) would be attracted in these cases, the Court held,"...in our considered view, the same would not be attracted in the facts of the present case. The said question was neither argued before the High Court nor any ground with regard to the same has been taken in the Special Leave Petition. The said submission is noted, only to be rejected. There was also no question of loss being caused to the sellers or any cheating by the buyers because neither by law nor by a legal contract, the buyers were obliged to disclose the likelihood of the location of capital city, which facts were already in public domain...".For these reasons, among others, the Court refused to interfere with the High Court order, and dismissed the appeal..Senior Advocates Dushyant Dave and C Nageswara Rao appeared for the Andhra Pradesh government. Senior Advocates Shyam Divan, Sidharth Luthra, Paras Kuhad and S Sirajudeen represented the buyers against whom cases were registered..The Andhra Pradesh government had argued that former Advocate General Dammalapati Srinivas and other accused were beneficiaries of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government’s decision to locate the new capital of the state at Amaravati. The state had submitted that the beneficiaries of purchasing land at the proposed capital site with inside information about the future value of the land. This information was not disclosed to the farmers or sellers from whom land was purchased at rock bottom rates. .According to the FIR, the land transactions took place between June and December 2014. A preliminary probe by the state’s anti-corruption bureau alleged that former advocate general Dammalapati Srinivas was privy to information about the exact location of future capital and his brother-in-law acquired close to 16 plots near Amravati..[READ ORDER]