The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a petition filed by Subramanian Swamy challenging the Andhra Pradesh government’s decision to constitute a one-member committee to examine the Special Investigation Team (SIT) report in the Tirumala laddu controversy. The Court held that the proposed administrative enquiry does not conflict with the ongoing criminal proceedings arising from the SIT probe.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymala Bagchi was hearing the matter. Swamy had questioned both the legality of the State’s committee and certain statements made by the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister in connection with the issue.
During the hearing, the Chief Justice observed that the scope of the two processes is clearly separate.
“Such an administrative enquiry cannot be called as overlapping with the criminal proceedings which led to the chargesheet and supplementary chargesheet,” the bench stated.
The Court further noted that the petitioner’s apprehension about a conflict between the SIT investigation and the State’s panel was unfounded.
“There is no conflict of interest/overlapping, and the scope of the investigation/enquiry, having been well demarcated, shows that apprehension of the petitioner does not have a solid foundation. Let both processes continue strictly in accordance with the law,” the bench said.
Swamy contended that the State government’s move to appoint a one-member committee effectively undermined the authority of the SIT, which had earlier been constituted by the Supreme Court to investigate alleged irregularities relating to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) laddu distribution.
He argued that permitting a parallel mechanism would dilute the sanctity of the Court-mandated investigation.
Rejecting these submissions, the Supreme Court declined to interfere and allowed both the criminal proceedings based on the SIT’s chargesheet and the State’s administrative review to continue independently in accordance with law.
