In a big relief to Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday struck down the case filed against his government in connection with the auction of Sadavarthi Vari Trust lands in Chennai.
The High Court observed that there are no strong points in the petition challenging the auction and hence, dismissed it.
The petitioner alleged that the government had auctioned the lands for less than Rs 30 crore, though the actual value was more than Rs 5,000 crore. The court, however, felt the petitioner had failed to produce evidences to that effect.
“If there are any strong evidences to prove that there were irregularities in the auction, they can be produced in the court and it will be admitted for further hearing,” the court said.
Sources say this is one way of Naidu managing to come out clean even in tough cases. Whenever there is a strong case of irregularities against him or his government and the Opposition parties confine themselves to addressing press conferences and making paper statements, Naidu would make somebody filing a petition against him in the court even before the Opposition does so.
He will ensure that the petitioner does not have any supporting evidence to prove the charges in the case. Naturally, the court which goes by evidences, will strike it down; and Naidu can claim that he has got the clean chit from the court.
In the meantime, he will ensure that the Opposition won’t get access to any papers and by the time it wakes up, the auction is completed. Howzzat?
