2015 cash-for-vote case: SC directs Telangana CM not to interfere with functioning of prosecution

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday directed Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy not to interfere in anyway with the functioning of prosecution in the proceedings of the 2015 cash-for-vote case, in which he is one of the accused.

While refusing to transfer the trial in the case from Telangana to Bhopal, a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan said the director general of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) would not report to the chief minister regarding prosecution of the case.

The apex court, which had earlier voiced strong displeasure over Reddy’s comments on the top court granting bail to rival Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha in cases linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, said it was expected that all the three wings of the Constitution showed mutual respect for functioning of each other.

The bench, while taking note that Reddy has tendered an apology in the court, said it did not wish to proceed further on the issue.

“Though we do not wish to proceed further in the matter, we may only put on caution all the constitutional functionaries -- the legislature, the executive and the judiciary -- to discharge their constitutional duties in the spheres earmarked for them by the Constitution,” it said.

“Such unwarranted comments unnecessarily bring about a friction. We may, therefore, only put a piece of advice that one should be careful enough while making comments about the orders passed by the courts,” the bench said.

It said no doubt that right to fair criticism of the verdict was always welcomed but one should not transgress the limits.

The apex court passed the order while hearing a plea filed by BRS MLA Guntakandla Jagadish Reddy and three others who had sought transfer of trial in the case from Telangana to Bhopal.

The petitioners had claimed that no fair trial in the case was possible in Telangana with Reddy at the helm.

They had said if a criminal trial was not free and fair, the credibility of the criminal justice system would undoubtedly be at stake, eroding the confidence of the common people in the system which would not augur well for society at large.

During the hearing on Friday, the counsel appearing for Revanth Reddy told the court that the plea seeking transfer of trial was filed with a political motive.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the chief minister, said the trial in the case was half-way through and the prosecution was being conducted by a prosecutor

who was appointed by the erstwhile regime.