Tirumala laddu row | Supreme Court rejects Subramanian Swamy's plea to set up panel to probe SIT report

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider a plea by former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy challenging the Andhra Pradesh government's decision to appoint a one-member committee to review the special investigation team (SIT) report on alleged contamination of animal fat in ghee used for preparing the Tirumala laddus.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymala Bagchi said such an administrative enquiry cannot be called as overlapping with the criminal proceedings which led to the charge sheet and supplementary charge sheet.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that the SIT has completed its investigation and filed its final report.

Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, for the Andhra Pradesh government, submitted that the petitioner approached the court with mala fides and was seeking to derail the departmental action.

Swamy also questioned the statements made by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on the row.

The bench said there is no conflict of interest/overlapping, and the scope of the investigation/enquiry, having been well demarcated.

The court felt, it 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.

The petitioner argued that the state government's move undermined the authority of the SIT, which was constituted earlier by the top court itself to probe irregularities surrounding the laddoos distributed by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD).

It was argued that previously, the court had reprimanded the Chief Minister for making premature statements even when the matter was under investigation.

Mehta contended that as per the CBI manual, if during the investigation, administrative lapses are found which are not connected with the criminal matter, then they must be intimated to the state government.

He said that the SIT found some administrative lapses, and the state's committee is looking into them. The court also noted that the SIT investigation has been completed, and the state's administrative inquiry will not cause any overlapping effect.