The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition challenging the Andhra Pradesh High Court judgment that had quashed criminal proceedings against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and former minister Ponguru Narayana over alleged irregularities in the Amaravati land-pooling scheme.

The allegations concerned alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Amaravati Land Pooling Scheme, including the treatment of assigned lands and alleged changes in the policy framework that were claimed to have benefited certain persons.

During the hearing, the Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana questioned the propriety of examining the evidence at the stage of a petition seeking to invoke the Court’s jurisdiction to quash criminal proceedings. Counsel appearing in the matter pointed out that the case had progressed substantially, with witnesses having been examined, and argued that the High Court had effectively undertaken an appreciation of evidence.

The Bench also raised concerns about the use of judicial proceedings to pursue political disputes. It observed that “judicial platforms are being misused by people”. A significant issue before the Bench was the effect of an earlier corruption-related proceeding concerning the same controversy, which had already been quashed and whose outcome had attained finality. The Bench indicated that the earlier decision created a “roadblock of finality” in seeking to revive connected allegations through another set of offences.

The petitioner-side, however, argued that the allegations in the present proceedings involved distinct offences and therefore could independently be investigated and prosecuted. However, the court rejected this argument, saying the genus of both the charges was corruption.

The Bench also clarified that the dismissal of the present challenge would not automatically determine the fate of separate FIRs lodged by individual farmers, which would have to be considered independently on their own facts.

The Supreme Court ultimately dismissed the challenge to the High Court’s decision quashing the criminal proceedings.