Six Cabinet Ministers and eight senior IAS officials who were issued notices by the Supreme Court in connection with the quid pro quo deals in Jagan Mohan Reddy’s ill-gotten wealth case will file their replies soon. They have reportedly decided to state that the GOs passed by them were all in tune with the policy adopted by the then Cabinet and no individual decision was taken. Sources said, as per the Supreme Court directive, all the respondents have already submitted their ‘vakalats’ through the advocate on record and the services of senior advocate Harish Salve are being sought to appear on their behalf.
Ponnaluri Sudhakara Reddy, an advocate from Nellore, had filed a special leave petition before the Supreme Court, seeking a CBI probe into the involvement of the ministers and IAS officers, responsible for issuing the GOs, intended to benefit the firms owned by Jagan Mohan Reddy. The Supreme Court has issued notices to the respondents with a direction to file replies through the advocate on record before April 30. The main argument by the petitioner was that all the 26 controversial GOs were issued by the ministers and senior IAS officials as a collective decision and their involvement too should be probed.
The six ministers, D. Prasad Rao, Kanna Laxminarayana, Mopidevi Venkata Ramana, J. Geeta Reddy, Ponnala Laxmaiah and Sabita Indra Reddy, and the IAS officers have, after several rounds of talks, decided to file their replies in time by stating the decisions were all part of announced policies of the government and collective decisions of the then cabinet, headed by YSR.