Skill Development case: SC delivers split verdict on Naidu's plea, refers it to CJI

CHENNAI: The Supreme Court's two-judge bench on Tuesday delivered a split verdict in a plea filed by former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu seeking to quash FIR and criminal proceedings against him in the Skill Development scam case.

Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela Trivedi disagreed on the interpretation of Section 17A of the Prevention of the Corruption Act and referred the matter to the Chief Justice of India for appropriate directions.

Section 17A was introduced by an amendment with effect from July 26, 2018, and the provision stipulates a mandatory requirement for a police officer to seek prior approval from the competent authority for conducting any enquiry or inquiry or investigation into any offence alleged to have been committed by a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.

Justice Bose said prior approval for conducting a probe for the alleged offences under the PC Act against Naidu was needed.

"However, I refuse to quash the remand order. The lack of approval will not make the remand order non-est," Justice Bose said, while granting liberty to the state to seek such approval.

Pronouncing the verdict, Justice Trivedi said section 17A will not apply retrospectively and upheld the high court order refusing to quash the FIR.

"The impugned order of remand and the impugned judgment of the high court does not suffer from any illegality," Justice Trivedi said while dismissing Naidu's appeal.

Naidu was arrested on September 9 last year for allegedly misappropriating funds from the Skill Development Corporation when he was the CM in 2015, causing a purported loss of Rs 371 crore to the state exchequer. Naidu has denied the allegations.

In October 2023, the top court reserved its verdict after hearing both parties -- Naidu and Andhra Pradesh government -- on the question whether proceedings against the former CM could have been initiated without getting a sanction from the Governor of the state.

During the hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi, who appeared on state government’s behalf, contended that the provision of the law requiring prior sanction would not apply as enquiry against Naidu was initiated in 2018. He said that a detailed investigation is required to be carried out by the probe agency and Naidu’s plea seeking quashing of criminal proceedings should not be allowed by the apex court.

On the other hand, Naidu had pleaded that both the initiation of the enquiry and the registration of the FIR against him is non est (non-existent in law) as both have been initiated without a mandatory approval under Section 17-A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

In September 2023, a single-judge bench of Justice S Reddy of the Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissed Naidu’s petition to quash the FIR registered against him and to set aside his judicial remand.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court had on November 20 last year, granted him regular bail in the case. The Andhra Pradesh government has moved the Supreme Court questioning the decision of the High Court.

In the FiberNet case, the State CID has undertaken before the apex court that it will not arrest Naidu till January 17 -- the next date of hearing.

(With inputs from PTI)