Athcannaidu bail plea: Government seeks time to submit more evidence

Nelapadu (Amaravati): Justice Manavendra Nath Roy posted the petition filed for the bail of former minister K Atchannaidu to further date after Advocate General (AG) S Sriram sought time to file more papers to substantiate their claim of corruption in the ESI scam. The date would be announced later.

Siddhartha Luthra, counsel for Atcheanaidu, contended that the government did not take permission either from the Governor or the Speaker before filing the criminal case against the former minister.

The AG argued that the nature of the crime was serious and the former minister was key person in it. He said that the accused gave letters in favour of the companies since September 2016.

He said that the crucial meeting on September 25, 2016 at the minister's residence had decided to hand over the contract to a particular company regarding toll-free services since the same company was given contract in Telangana.

"The decision was taken without the tendering process or e-procurement process which was against the public interest," he said.

Siddhartha Luthra said that the decision was taken as the minister and the procedural safeguards should be taken into consideration. After the AG sought time to submit more evidence in the case, the single bench judge has deferred hearing to a further date which would be announced later.