Chandrababu Naidu’s Supreme Court Plea: Unraveling the Skill Development Scam Controversy
Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu, has taken his case to the Supreme Court, seeking to nullify the FIR filed against him in relation to the skill development scam. This move comes after the Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissed his plea to quash the FIR.
The petition was filed through Advocate Guntur Pramod Kumar. Senior Advocate Harish Salve, representing Naidu, highlighted that
“the FIR was registered on December 19, 2021,”
but Naidu was only named as an accused on September 7, 2023. Salve raised concerns over the non-compliance with Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, pointing out that
“no permission was obtained from the competent authority.”
He further argued that Naidu’s implication was nothing but a “regime revenge investigation” and that
“the instrumentalities of the State were being weaponised for using the force of criminal law.”
Salve emphasized that
“even if all the accusations were to be believed, there was no prima facie case against Naidu.”
Contrastingly, Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Ranjit Kumar, who represented the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID), argued that the proceedings couldn’t be halted as
“the investigation was at a nascent stage.”
Rohatgi stated that “Section 17A was not a bar” since Naidu, as the head of the executive government, was allegedly involved in
“a calculated and deliberate scam which misappropriated ₹370 crore of public money.”
He also clarified that
“there was no need for prior sanction under Section 17A for investigation of offences prior to July 26, 2018,”
the date when the provision was added to the PC Act.
