After delaying the matter for nearly four months, the state government decided on Saturday to provide free legal aid to five out of the six ministers, while ignoring the eight IAS officers, who had received notices from the Supreme Court in March this year regarding the 26 controversial GOs issued during YSR’s regime.
As per the government’s orders, free legal aid will be given to Sabita Indra Reddy, Geeta Reddy, Dharmana Prasada Rao, Kanna Laxminarayana and Ponnala Lakshmaiah. They can engage lawyers to argue their cases in the apex court and bill the state government for it. Sources said the ministers take the services of SC’s senior counsel and noted lawyer Harish Salve and his team for the purpose.
CVC takes up VVL case, asks CBI for reports
Stating that he had received complaints against CBI joint director V.V. Lakshminarayana for allegedly leaking investigation details to a section of the media, Central Vigilance Commissioner Pradeep Kumar said that he had called for a report from the CBI. Talking about a host of governance reforms to combat corruption, which were in the offing, the CVC said that new laws like the False Claims Law would empower citizens to fight corruption.