SC dismisses Subramanian Swamy's plea against Tirupati laddus probe
What's the story
The Supreme Court has dismissed former Member of Parliament Subramanian Swamy's petition against the Andhra Pradesh government's decision to form a one-member committee to probe administrative lapses in the Tirumala laddu case. The one-man panel was formed to investigate administrative lapses related to the ghee adulteration allegations after a note was forwarded to the government by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which handled the criminal probe in the case.
SIT clarification
'SIT's investigation is complete'
Rejecting the plea, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi clarified that the SIT's investigation is complete. They said the state-appointed committee is only responsible for fixing responsibility for detected lapses. "Such an administrative inquiry cannot be called as overlapping with the criminal proceedings which led to the chargesheet and supplementary chargesheet," said the court.
Government defense
Plea by petitioner is mala fide: Andhra Pradesh government
During the hearing, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, representing the Andhra Pradesh government, argued that Swamy's plea was intended to delay administrative action. He said, "This plea by the petitioner is completely mala fide. They just want to delay the administrative action... newspaper reports are being relied on." After noting that the SIT probe had been completed, the bench observed that the state's administrative inquiry would not have any overlapping effect.
Case
Controversy started in 2024
The laddu controversy started in 2024 when Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu alleged animal fat was used for making Tirupati laddus under a previous Congress regime. The Supreme Court had then ordered an SIT probe into these allegations. The SIT's final report, submitted in January, ruled out the presence of animal fat but found irregularities in procurement processes leading to a fake ghee supply.
SIT
One-Man Committee to examine allegations of supply of adulterated ghee
In light of the SIT's findings, the Andhra Pradesh government had formed a one-man committee headed by retired IAS officer Dinesh Kumar. The committee will review the CBI-led SIT's Self-Contained Note and recommend action against those found culpable. It would recommend initiating appropriate actions against erring committee members and senior officials of TTD for their lapses, omissions, and failures in both the relaxation and enforcement of ghee tender norms.