Hyderabad: Telangana high court on Tuesday ordered the Deputy Director, Directorate of Enforcement to release land over 1316.91 acres in Prakasam District in Andhra Pradesh for VANPIC Projects.
Vadarevu and Nizampatnam Industrial Corridor is an upcoming industrial park located between Guntur district and Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh.
The bench comprised of high court Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice S Nanda. Despite being correct in holding that the provisional attachment order and the adjusting authority’s order confirming the attachment had fundamental flaws rendering them without jurisdiction the appellate tribunal did not go so far as to declare such order illegal.
The bench determined that it committed another error by directing the appellant to the Special Court in order to request the release of the attached property because doing so amounted to ceding its authority and allowing illegality to continue. The court ruled that the appellant’s appeal must be accepted categorically.
Three petitions were filed by VANPIC projects in an effort to challenge a decision made by the appellate tribunal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which was limited to ordering the respondent to release the properties from PMLA attachment and continuing the attachment of their properties.
According to the media reports, the court stated that Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy might not interfere as he is also one of the defendants in the case.
The issue related to the VANIC project, whose backer, entrepreneur Nimmagadda Prasad allegedly deposited crores of rupees in CM Jagan’s business and the project contractors were allegedly issued by the administration at the time which was headed by the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy.
In the hearing, Senior Lawyer Atul Nanda, for the appellant stated that charge sheet no 9 which was filed by the CBI on August 13 2012 is not completely correct and cannot survive judicial scrutiny.
Section 2 (1) (U) of the PMLA, the appellant does not hold any proceeds of crime. Because of this, it is impossible to maintain the temporary attachment order and the original complaint, which attempts to justify attachment by characterising the outcomes of completely legal and pure arms-length economic transactions as the profits of crime.
He stated that there was no justification for the property’s attachment from the Enforcement Directorate. The court ordered the Enforcement Directorate to surrender the attached 1316.91 acres on Tuesday.
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