Andhra Pradesh CM vs Judiciary – Burning Issues – Free PDF Download

The Imbroglio

• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has written an eight page letter to Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde,  putting some allegations on Supreme Court judge Justice NV Ramana.

Justice N.V. Ramana

• Justice N.V. Ramana is a Judge in Supreme Court
• He has also served as

1. Chief Justice of Delhi High Court
2. Acting Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court.
3. President of the Andhra Pradesh Judicial Academy.

• He is in line to be the next Chief Justice of India (from 24 April 2021) after superannuation of current CJI Justice SA Bobde.

A little Background

• 2014- Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated into Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
• 2014 – State Assembly elections
• N. Chandrababu Naidu (TDP) became the CM
• Announcement of NEW CAPITAL – AMRAVATI
• 2019 – YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (YSR Congress) became CM

Reversal of Major decisions

• Right after he assumed office, CM Jagan Reddy started reversing many important decisions of previous government.
• Jagan government formed a sub-committee to examine the allegations of corruption, ruthless exploitation of natural resources and grabbing of lands from small and marginal farmers during the reign of the previous government.
•  The sub-committee submitted its findings, holding that Naidu and others had amassed a lot of wealth by illegal transactions of purchase of approximately  4,000 acres of land.

• New Capital plan changed/scrapped
• 3 Capital plan proposed-

1. Executive capital at Visakhapatnam
2. Judicial capital at Kurnool
3. Legislative capital at Amaravati

Judicial Barriers?

• The current governments plans have been halted by Andhra Pradesh High court
• Multiple proposals are pending in courts. (~100 Orders)

The ALLEGATIONS in the letter by Chief Minister

1. Amravati – family members of the SC Judge and others have been accused of purchasing land in advance.
2. Justice Ramana was interfering in the affairs of the Andhra Pradesh High Court – influencing the roster of some judges –favourable to former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.
3. Cases important to the opposition Telugu Desam Party were “allocated to a few judges”.

Why is this matter important?

• Perhaps for the first time in India’s history, a chief minister has formally accused a sitting member of the higher judiciary of political bias and even corruption.
• Questions about Collegium system – Serious questions over the system that has led to such a confrontation between two constitutional authorities.
• For High Court judge appointments, a collegium of the three senior-most Supreme Court judges take a call on recommendations made by the collegium of the High Court.
• “The Chief Justice of India and the collegium of two Judges of the Supreme Court would take into account the views of the Chief Justice of the High Court and of those Judges of the High Court who have been consulted by the Chief Justice as well as views of those Judges in the Supreme Court who are conversant with the affairs of that High Court.
• It is of no consequence whether that High Court is their parent High Court or they have functioned in that High Court on transfer.”

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