The issue of disposing off rare red sanders has prompted former Minister P. Shankar Rao to approach the High Court to file a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking CBI inquiry.
Dr. Shankar Rao has named Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy as one of the respondents in the writ petition along with Forest Minister S. Vijayarama Raju, Environment and Forests Special Chief Secretary Janaki R Kondapi, Chief Secretary, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Environment and Forests department Principal Secretary.
The petitioner alleged that issuance of GOs in March last year and disposal of this red sanders caused huge loss to the public exchequer. Serious allegations were made against the Chief Minister too.
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He sought a direction to the CBI to conduct preliminary inquiry as the issue involved was more than Rs. 1,800 crore. The case would be numbered and would be listed before the appropriate Bench after the registry scrutinises the papers and finds these papers to be in order.
Liquor scam
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar on Thursday ordered notices to respondents in writ petition seeking CBI investigation into liquor scam. Senior politicians and officers are arrayed as respondents in this case.
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The Bench perused the status report field by ACB and gave three weeks time for filing fresh report. It may be recalled that P.V. Krishnaiah, a practising advocate, filed a writ petition seeking CBI inquiry into the liquor scam alleging that the local politicians had a share in the scam.
Another writ petition field O.M. Debara, a civil society activist, seeking functional autonomy to the ACB is also listed on Thursday. In that case, a prayer was made requesting the court to monitor the investigation by the ACB.
The Bench perused the report and felt that more was to be done and ordered notices.
There are altogether 20 respondents in this case, including the Chief Minister who is respondent no. 20. It is not clear whether this name continues to be in the array of respondents who are to respond to the notices. The case will be listed after three weeks.