Andhra Pradesh High Court orders interim stay on ACB court proceedings against N Chandrababu Naidu in Skill Development case

The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday effectively ordered a stay on proceedings before the trial court against former State Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in connection with the Andhra Pradesh skill development program scam, till September 18 [Nara Chandrababu Naidu v. State of Andhra Pradesh]..Justice K Sreenivasa Reddy said in the order that the ACB court cannot seek a counter from Naidu in the police custody case till September 18, which in effect leads to a halt on the proceedings before the trial court. "...learned Special Judge for trial of SPE & ACB Cases-cum-Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge, Vijayawada, is directed not to insist the petitioner herein for filing of counter till 18.09.2023," reads the High Court order..Meanwhile the High Court has issued notice to the state government on Naidu's challenge to the judicial custody and the same will be heard on September 19. Till the legality of judicial custody is decided, the former CM continues to be lodged in Rajahmundry jail.. The Court was hearing Naidu's plea against the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court order remanding him to 14 days of judicial custody in connection with the skill development program scam case..The investigation against Naidu centres around a scheme that allegedly diverted government funds intended for a skill development project into various shell companies through fraudulent invoices, which did not correspond with the delivery of services.He was arrested and later remanded to judicial custody in the matter on September 10. A special court at Vijayawada hearing cases probed by the ACB passed the remand order under challenge..In his plea challenging the CID's remand report against him, Naidu had asserted before the special court that he had been falsely implicated in the case.He had also claimed that there was a clear statutory violation of Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Section 17A deals with the need for prior sanction to inquire into the actions of public servants done in the discharge of their official duties.Naidu had also argued that since he was Chief Minster, the Governor of the State would be the sanctioning authority..However, Special judge BSV Himabindu had determined that the material on record prima facie made out a case against Naidu for offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as the Prevention of Corruption Act.It had, therefore, remanded him to judicial custody prompting the present plea before the High Court. .[Read Order]