Supreme Court rebukes Telangana CM Revanth Reddy for questioning bail to K Kavitha

The Supreme Court on Thursday took strong exception to Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy's comments on the recent order of the apex court granting bail to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha [Guntakandla Jagadish Reddy and ors v. State of Telangana and ors]..A Bench of Justices BR Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra and KV Viswanathan was miffed at Reddy's statement that Kavitha got bail from Supreme Court because of a tacit understanding between the BRS and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The top court had granted bail to Kavitha in the Delhi excise policy case on August 27.“It is a fact that BRS worked for the victory of the BJP in the 2024 LS polls. There is also talk that Kavitha got bail because of the deal between BRS and BJP”, Reddy said yesterday.That bail order was authored by Justice Viswanathan for a bench which also comprised of Justice Gavai.When a transfer plea filed in relation to a case against Reddy came up for hearing today before a three-judge Bench which incidentally comprised of Justices Gavai and Viswanathan, Justice Gavai did not mince his words."The statements that you (Reddy) made. Even today morning. That within first 100 days you will ... Such statements from a responsible Chief Minister. Find out. There was casting of aspersions on the court."Justice Viswanathan weighed in saying,"Is it a responsible statement to be made by a person holding the post of Chief Minister?"Justice Gavai said that while the Supreme Court is not bothered about criticism of its judgments, Reddy should not have made such statements casting aspersions on the judges."How could he?! Do we have to pass our orders after consultation with a political party? We are not bothered if somebody criticised our judgments. We will perform duties whether they like it or not."Justice Viswanathan said it is the executive's fundamental duty to stay at an arm's length from the judiciary. "Criticise but not (by casting aspersions)," he said.Justice Gavai then took issue with what Reddy had implied with his remarks, and objected to the audacity shown, saying,"Should we wait for political considerations? If somebody has audacity of commenting on an order of the Supreme Court! ... Let the trial be elsewhere then if you do not have respect for the Supreme Court - the highest court in the country.".The Bench was hearing a plea filed by four BRS lawmakers to transfer the trial against Reddy in the 2015 cash-for-votes scam to a court outside Telangana.The apex court had in February issued notice in the matter.As per the transfer petition, a fair trial against Reddy would not be possible within Telangana given his present status as the State's Chief Minister.It has been filed by four lawmakers belonging to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party - MLAs Guntakandla Jagadish Reddy and Kalvakuntla Sanjay and Members of the Legislative Council (MLC), Satyavathi Rathod and Mohd. Mahmood Ali..At the outset of the hearing today, Justice Gavai remarked that it would not be right to entertain such matters."If we entertain such petitions, we will be disbelieving our judicial officers. Close to the elections you press such petitions. We will say we do not agree with the apprehensions and averments."It suggested that it could appoint a special public prosecutor (SPP) for the trial in question and dispose of the matter.However, the Bench changed track after discussing the tenor of Reddy's remarks."We are not foreclosing the issue of transfer now. This sort of conduct... We always say we will not interfere in sphere of legislature but that applies for them also," Justice Gavai said as the hearing drew to a close.Reddy's counsel said he would try and 'make amends'. The counsel for the petitioners said the damage had been done in a free-for all manner and that such remarks could percolate to lower courts in a detrimental manner to pressurise judges.The Bench was also told that the name for SPP that was suggested, advocate Uma Maheshwara Rao, had appeared for one of the accused in the case.The matter will be taken up next on September 2..Senior Advocates Aryama Sundaram and Dama Seshadri Naidu with advocates J Akshitha, Shaik Sohil Akhtar, Eugene S Philomene, and Divya represented the petitioners before the Supreme Court. The petition was filed through advocate P Mohith Rao.Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Sidharth Luthra with advocates Kumar Vaibhaw, Lzafeer Ahmad BF, Ranjeeta Rohatgi, Anmol Kheta, Somaya Gupta, and Shubham Arun appeared for Reddy.Senior Advocate Dr. Menaka Guruswamy with advocates Sravan Kumar Karanam, Utkarsh Pratap, Shireesh Tyagi, Tayade Pranali Gowardhan, and. Arunima Das appeared for the State of Telangana.Senior Advocate Siddharth Aggarwal with advocates Gautam Khazanchi, Vaibhav Dubey, Vipul Kumar, and Sowjhanya Shankaran appeared for respondent Rudra Uday Simha.Senior Advocate Kavin Gulati with advocates Abhay Pratap Singh, Aaryaan Sadanand, Mitali Umat, Dhaval Mehrotra, Aditi Desai appeared for respondent Sandra Venkata Veeraiah..[Read order]