Supreme Court Delivers Split Verdict on Chandrababu Naidu's Plea in Skill Development Scam Case - 2024-01-17

The Supreme Court on Tuesday delivered a split verdict on a plea filed by former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu seeking to quash the First Information Report (FIR) against him in the Skill Development Corporation scam case. A bench comprising Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Bela M Trivedi differed on the interpretation and applicability of Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act in the case..
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Naidu had contended before the court that prior approval of the competent authority was not taken before registering the FIR against him in the Skill Development Corporation scam case and hence, his arrest in the case was illegal..
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What does Section 17A of PC Act say?.
Section 17A of Prevention of Corruption Act was introduced by an amendment with effect from July 26, 2018 and it stipulates mandatory requirement for police officer for prior sanction by the competent authority for conducting an investigation or inquiry against a public servant for any offence alleged to have been committed during discharge of his/her official duty..
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Naidu challenged a High Court order in the apex court.
Naidu had approached the apex court challenging an order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court refusing to quash an FIR registered against him in the Skill Development scam case..
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What did the judges say?.
While Justice Bose said that prior approval for conducting probe for the alleged offences under the PC Act against Naidu was needed, Justice Trivedi said that Section 17A will not apply retrospectively. “However, I refuse to quash the remand order. The lack of approval will not make the remand order non-est,” Justice Bose said and granted liberty to the state to seek such approval..
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Justice Trivedi upheld the High Court order refusing to quash the FIR against Naidu and said, “The impugned order of remand and impugned judgement of the high court does not suffer from any illegality,” Justice Trivedi said while dismissing the appeal of Naidu..
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The bench said that in view of divergent opinions on the matter, it be placed before the Chief Justice of India for appropriate directions..
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What Naidu argued before the apex court.
Lawyers representing the TDP chief had argued before the top court that allegations against him in the alleged Skill Development scam case pertains to the decisions, instructions or recommendations made by him in the capacity of the Andhra Pradesh chief minister and the rigours of Section 17A of PC Act would apply in the matter..
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The state government, however, had argued that the rigours of Section 17A of PC Act would not apply in the case..
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Naidu is currently out on bail in the case.
Naidu was arrested in the Skill Development scam case on September 9 and is currently out on bail in the case after his four-week interim bail on medical grounds was converted into regular bail by the High Court..
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Naidu is also facing charges in FibreNet case and his plea for anticipatory bail in the case is pending before the top court, which had asked the state not to arrest him till it delivers its order on Naidu’s plea seeking quashing of FIR against him in the Skill Development Corporation case.