SKC Report: Stay On HC Order

A Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday stayed an earlier order passed by Justice L Narasimha Reddy to the Centre to make public the 8th chapter of the Justice B N Srikrishna Committee Report.

Acting on an appeal by the Centre, the 2-member Division Bench, comprising of Justices Nisar Ahmed Kakru and Afzal Vilaspurkar, has stayed Justice L Narasimha Reddy's ruling passed on March 23rd, 2011.

However, the Bench has directed the Centre to submit the controversial 8th chapter in a sealed cover to the High Court within 2 days.

Earlier, Justice Reddy had ordered the Centre to make public the 8th chapter of the Srikrishna Committee Report, and had described the report as "mind-boggling".

Narasimha Reddy had also stated that the report over-projected non-existent things, and had said, "It was unfortunate that a retired Supreme Court Judge was associated with a report of this kind."

Earlier, the Centre had argued through Additional Solicitor-General Vivek Tanka that the 8th chapter, which is also referred to as the secret note, should not be made public. Defending its decision of not making the 8th chapter public, the Centre had said that it was a privileged document under Sections 123 and 124 of the Indian Evidence Act 1872.

The 8th chapter, which has been authored based on reports and assessment made on the ground by the Srikrishna Committee members, deals with the administrative and other measures that the government would have to adopt.

Tanka had further assured the court that the "secret note" does not contain information which would be relevant to the general public for forming an opinion over the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. (INN)