Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh High Court Thursday dismissed a petition seeking a CBI probe into the assets of former chief minister and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu.
A division bench of justices G Rohini and Asutosh Mohanto in their order observed that the writ petition filed by YSR Congress MLA Vijayamma "does not qualify to be a public interest petition".
Vijayamma is the widow of late chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy.
The order said that the court cannot entertain a writ petition filed by a political adversary against another for venting political grievances. "Many issues raised by the petitioner (Vijayamma) were earlier considered by the courts in separate proceedings," it said.
The bench also observed that the earlier interim direction issued by previous division bench to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the allegations levelled by Pulivendula MLA Y S Vijayamma against Naidu over alleged disproportionate assets and submission of a report within three month, was passed without observing principles of natural justice.
Vijayamma had moved the high court on October 17 last seeking a probe by the CBI and the ED against Naidu on various counts. The high court had on November 14 directed both the agencies to investigate into the assets of the TDP chief. Besides the CBI and the ED, market regulator SEBI too was asked to complete the investigation and submit reports independently within three months.
However, in December, the high court kept in abeyance the order earlier passed by the previous division bench and directed the CBI and the ED to put on hold their preliminary investigation.
PTI